PARIS — Flavio Cobolli has ploughed his furrow in the shadow of his illustrious compatriot Jannik Sinner over the last few years but come Sunday’s final at the French Open, all eyes will be on the Italian No 3.
The 24-year-old Cobolli will meet Alexander Zverev in his first ever Grand Slam title-match, where he will seek to go one better than Sinner managed last season and become the first Italian man to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires since Adriano Panatta in 1976.
Since world No 1 Sinner, the overwhelming favourite for the title, fell to a shock second-round defeat, the men’s draw in Paris has been wide open.
Cobolli, the 10th seed, said this year’s Roland Garros was “the chance of my life” after he beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals, before getting a walkover into the final when his compatriot Matteo Arnaldi pulled out of their last-four showdown due to a virus.
On the back of his run at the French Open, Cobolli will break more new ground in his career, by entering the top 10 for the first time.
“I’m really happy for the result that I reached this week,” Cobolli, who won the boys’ doubles at Roland Garros in 2020, said.
“My dad also came to me… and we had a big hug together with the whole team for achieving the top 10. Every time that I make the best ranking, we all together have a big hug,” Cobolli added according to AFP.
If so far, Cobolli has not achieved as much success as Sinner or current Italian No 2 Lorenzo Musetti, all that could change on Sunday.
Should he add a major to his clay-court titles in Hamburg and Bucharest from last season, as well as a hard-court title picked up in Acapulco earlier this year, Cobolli will ensure his place in the history books of tennis.
