UNITED CUP

January 7, 2023

Vincenzo Santopadre

Lorenzo Musetti

Martina Trevisan

Team Italy

Press Conference

Team Italy - 2

Team Greece - 0

THE MODERATOR: Congrats, Team Italy. Captain, first of all, how happy are you to go up 2-Love on the first day, especially with Martina, incredible performance?

CAPTAIN SANTOPADRE: Of course I have to say the same thing that I said last two, three matches, but I'm really super, super happy about this.

You know, we know that we have a strong group, but I think we have unbelievable guys, because they are helping each other so much. Just consider that this guy on my right was watching Martina and was warming up a lot of times. In the end he was on court and he was with a little bit less energies than usual because he was together with Martina while he was warming up.

Imagine how these guys are doing. Martina, I don't want to say any word about her, because I can't explain what she did. If I say one word, is not too much, is not too much.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Martina, can you explain what you did?

MARTINA TREVISAN: I mean, I played a tennis match (smiling). No, I'm very happy. I'm very happy, because I think it's the one incredible match for me in the hard court. I'm very happy with the way I fight today, having Vincenzo and Matteo close to me help me a lot. Also my teammate helped me a lot.

But I'm happy because I kept the energy for all the match. It was very difficult, because I wanted so much, but, you know, the match was so long, but I think the key was I kept the energy for all the match. Even when I went down, I continues to keep going, to keep going, and I think that was the key.

Q. What did it feel like to play that match? Because you were smiling almost the whole time, even when you were serving it looked like you were smiling. So what was it feeling like?

MARTINA TREVISAN: Yeah, with me, the smile for me, it's help me a lot during the most nervous moment, because there was a lot of up and down, and I remember to smile, and I relax myself. Because as I already told to Barbara on court, I was in amazing stadium with a lot of people watching me, with all my teammate cheering for me. As I told to Barbara, you know, I looked around and say, How beautiful is it, the life, and the moment that I was living.

Q. Lorenzo, after her crazy match, you go and right away breakpoint. How were you able to sort of stay focused and then just roll through the match from there?

LORENZO MUSETTI: Yeah, I mean, Martina was not the only one playing tonight, because with her I think all the entire squad maybe, I think it's probably the best match so far in this competition for us, because was really stressful even from our side.

So I was playing in the gym. I was, like, imitating her and I was complaining when she was missing, and I was fighting with her. I was giving my support from the gym. That's I think what a teammate has to do, especially with Martina, as I said on court, we are really close friends, even outside of this competition. So, I mean, the meaning of the win for her, I'm really, really happy, because I think she deserves it.

I watched almost all the first set and she was playing really good, really aggressive, and I think she deserved to win. My match tonight, I mean, it counts a lot, because the point, it's really important, but all the attention, I think, you have to give to Martina.

Q. Martina, how much did you draw from your previous experience against Maria tonight? How much did you take from playing her before and knowing what that's like, getting deep in a match with her?

MARTINA TREVISAN: Yeah, the match that I play with her in Paris, you mean, right? It was too much, like two years ago, so I think today was a little bit different from Paris. Even the surface, even the court.

But I came on court ready. I was ready to fight. I had a lot of energy. I prepare with Matteo and Vincenzo very well the match, I was ready to fight.

This is the thing that I think about during all the match.