Flavio Cobolli: The Italian tennis player who could have been a footballer for Roma

He’s a young Italian tennis player, but not Jannik Sinner or Lorenzo Musetti.

He’s an up-and-coming On athlete, but not Ben Shelton or Joao Fonseca.

He could have been a famous footballer, but left the youth academy of Serie A club Roma as a teenager.

And he’s so softly spoken, that at times it’s impossible to hear him without leaning in close.

Advertisement

Flavio Cobolli, an understated but self-assured 23-year-old Italian, has flown under the radar during his fledgling tennis career. That is now much harder, because he just made his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, on the back of winning the biggest title of his career. Before the French Open, Cobolli beat former world No. 5 Andrey Rublev in straight sets to claim the Hamburg Open in Germany, an ATP 500 event, a couple of rungs below the Grand Slams. Cobolli saved all five of the break points he faced in the biggest match of his career.

Now he is in the last eight of Wimbledon, after beating former finalist Marin Čilić in four sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(3). He will have to get used to the attention — Cobolli said he felt “a little bit confused” during an interview at Roland Garros, as he explained the feeling of winning a big title and then heading straight to another one, trophy in hand.

“I like it,” he said of the attention before a first-round match against lucky loser and 2014 U.S. Open champion … Čilić. “It’s a little strange for me because I never had it.”

Clay is his preferred surface. In April, Cobolli won his first ATP Tour title on the surface at the Romanian Open. It was an unlikely win, coming off the back of an eight-match losing streak at the start of 2025. It was deflating after his breakthrough season in 2024, which saw his ranking rise from outside the world’s top 100 to the top 30. His latest title win also followed a disappointing couple of results: a first-round exit at the Italian Open and a quarterfinal defeat at a Challenger tournament in Turin.

But the Wimbledon grass has also proven a fine foil to his expressive brand of tennis. Čilić, who upset home hope and No. 4 seed Jack Draper in the second round, plays the first-strike, bludgeoning brand of the era in which he was a top player. Cobolli plays with more changes in rhythm and pace, moving the ball rather than blasting it.

Advertisement

Cobolli partly credits his progress to doing pre-season training in Spain with an old friend, Carlos Alcaraz. The two met over a decade ago on the junior circuit, where Cobolli once won a doubles match against the Spaniard. During an interview at the Laver Cup in September, Cobolli proudly referenced that junior victory, and said of their training block together at the Ferrero Tennis Academy in Alicante that he “learned a lot from Alcaraz and his lifestyle.”

They would have repeated the arrangement in the most recent off-season, but an injury to Cobolli got in the way. Still, Alcaraz has been impressed by what he’s seen from his near-contemporary. “He has the level to be there, really,” Alcaraz said during a news conference Monday in Paris.

“I’m just really, really happy with everything he’s doing lately. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna keep building his path and (will) become a really good tennis player.”

Alcaraz, who said Cobolli has “really good hands, really good touch,” empathizes with one of Cobolli’s weaknesses.

“What he was struggling (with) was about finding the right shots in the right moment. Probably he was a little bit inconsistent, like me sometimes,” he said with a smile.

Returning the compliment, Cobolli said: “He’s a nice guy, always joking, but when practicing he’s very focused.”

Six months before that training block, Cobolli drew Alcaraz in the first round of the 2023 French Open — his first main-draw match at a major.

“I said, ‘F—. Carlos on clay, first time main draw,’” Cobolli said of a match he ended up losing in straight sets, including a 25-minute bagel in the first. Cobolli said that “Carlos is a bit higher level” than anyone he’d faced, including Novak Djokovic.

It was at the 2024 Australian Open that Cobolli made his move, reaching the third round after entering as a qualifier. Sponsored by Lotto at the time, Cobolli formally joined On four months later.

Advertisement

The Swiss sportswear company’s roster also includes four-time Roland Garros champion Iga Świątek, top-10 American Shelton and Fonseca, who is considered the sport’s most exciting youngster. Joining has raised Cobolli’s profile, and with a game based more on style than power — he’s only 6 feet — his matches can catch fire. At last year’s French Open, he played out a barn-burner against Holger Rune, as their late-night, second-round match on Court 14 turned into one of the matches of the tournament. Cobolli was ultimately edged out in a final set tie-break that he had led 5-0, before Rune hit a slap-shot backhand return that changed the complexion of the match’s final minutes.

Flavio Cobolli celebrates his ATP 500 title in Hamburg. (Daniel Bockwoldt / German Picture Alliance via Getty Images)

Cobolli has faced Alcaraz and Djokovic, the leading men on the ATP Tour, but not yet Sinner — a compatriot, a good friend and a fellow sporting polymath. Sinner’s background as a high-level skier is well known, but had Cobolli’s career headed in a different direction, he might be speaking as a footballer for Roma in Serie A.

He was a right-back in their academy for five years, but decided at 14 to pursue a career in tennis. His dad and coach, Stefano, was also a professional player, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 236.

Does Cobolli ever watch Roma and think he could be playing? “Of course — every match, I think it,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Every match, I think, ‘I can do better than him.’”

A number of his friends have gone on to play for the Roma first team, many of whom he plays padel with. Though born and raised in Florence, Roma is Cobolli’s biggest passion. He goes to games whenever he can and follows the team obsessively while on tour, generally preferring watching football to tennis. When he won the French Open boys’ doubles title as an 18-year-old in 2020, Cobolli celebrated by hoisting a Roma scarf into the sky. He hadn’t planned it; it just felt right in the moment.

His infatuation extends to one of his many tattoos. He has the Italian phrase “sei tu l’unica mia sposa, sei tu l’unico mio amor,” which translates as “you are my only wife, you are my only love,” inked on his chest. It’s a quote about Roma from club legend Daniele De Rossi, who wrote it on the captain’s armband when he was managing the team between January and September 2024. Cobolli describes De Rossi as his “idol outside the court.”

Another of Cobolli’s friends from his Roma days is Riccardo Calafiori, the swashbuckling defender who signed for Arsenal from Bologna last summer. “I texted him then just to say, ‘Congrats for your move.’ He’s a nice guy — just a normal guy,” Cobolli said.

“We played in the same team at Roma, and he was amazing with his feet. I’m a bit better with my hands.

Advertisement

“I did (always think he’d make it) — he’s a special player. And he will be a great, great, great player for Arsenal.” He saw Calafiori’s resilience up close in their youth, as his fellow Italian overcame a horrific knee injury to climb to football’s highest level.

Another of their team-mates was Edoardo Bove, whom Cobolli met aged seven and now plays for Fiorentina. They became great friends playing together at the Roma academy, and Bove was also a gifted tennis player. In December 2024, Bove collapsed on the pitch during a match against Inter and suffered a cardiac arrest. Cobolli was watching the game and broke down in tears.

“I froze immediately,” Cobolli told the ATP Tour in December. “When I watched that moment, I called my mom, crying, and she told me, ‘Flavio, stop there, I’ll come to you,’ because it was tough for me.

In Paris, Cobolli said that Bove had surprised him by showing up at the Hamburg final. “He’s good, he’s happy, and I hope to see him on the pitch soon,” Cobolli said.

He still enjoys playing football tennis with some of his peers on the ATP Tour, including other talented footballers Alcaraz and Sebastian Korda, who he cites as one of the best in the locker room. Korda is close to footballing royalty, too — his girlfriend Ivana is the daughter of Pavel Nedvěd, the former Ballon d’Or winner.

Cobolli treasures these friendships from his Roma days, but ultimately chose tennis over football because, as well as his greater talent with a racket, he prefers the responsibility of an individual sport.

“I don’t like to play with a team,” he said. “I like to play alone. I love to stay alone in my life. I don’t like to lose because of someone else. I want to win because of me. In a team, it’s different.”

Still, as he roared in delight after beating Čilić on No. 2 Court, it was the emotions of his team, some in tears, that stood out. He’ll be trying to win alone again Wednesday, in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

(Top photos: Adam Davy / PA Images via Imagn Images)

Click here to read article