Flavio Cobolli needs star tennis

PARIS – Next Monday he will be the tenth tennis player in the world, but he will make the greatest contribution Flavio Cobolli what he does about his sport has nothing to do with rankings or results, but rather with his joy and charisma.

In a sport like tennis, where we all too often hear talk of ‘sacrifices’ and dissatisfaction from young players who are successful and millionaires, Cobolli represents a return to common sense, a normality that is all too often missing.

You just have to listen to him to understand why. After losing the final at Roland Garrosgave the Italian a real lesson in good taste and human decency.

“I would like to congratulate Sascha on this title. I think he deserves it. I also think he deserved it more today than I did at the end of the match. But I also want to thank myself for what I have done in the last two weeks. I could never have imagined such a result in my life and I am very proud of myself. So now I just want to smile from ear to ear and enjoy the evening with friends, with the people I love.”

A ‘smile from ear to ear’ after losing a final. You don’t hear that often in tennis, where the sense of reality is often lost. Cobolli is exactly the kind of star tennis men need.

‘It’s a Grand Slam final; I don’t think anyone in this room expected much from me,” he told reporters. “So I have to be proud of myself and keep trying again and again.”

Cobolli, 24 years old, masterfully crafts a story that combines simplicity with a touch of humor, as well as a subtle, self-deprecating irony. As a result, he has become one of the circuit’s favorite players in record time: everyone would want a son, a brother, a friend like him.

It is the triumph of simplicity. Men’s tennis, which has been under considerable pressure lately, is dominated by the Italian Jannik Sinner, a very subdued figure who has already admitted that he does not like to talk to the media after every match, and the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, a whirlwind who seems to have been tamed for some time so that his statements are as smooth as possible. Speaking from a clear script to avoid problems.

Cobolli is different; he speaks extemporaneously, and what he says sounds sincere. The 24-year-old Italian has been coached since the age of 17 by his father Stefano, who reached number 236 in the rankings in 2003. During his childhood and adolescence, father and son agreed that they would not talk about tennis, but they would talk about football, the Roland Garros finalist’s other great passion. Until Stefano, now 49, felt Flavio was ready and took charge of his transition to the professional ranks.

Francesca is Cobolli’s mother, and the player dedicated some deeply emotional reflections to her this Sunday.

‘I pretty much only saw my father at dinner, so I spent the whole day with my mother; she always told me to do everything, she was there at every training session, so I didn’t have a car until I was 16 or 17; besides, in Rome you can imagine how dangerous cars and motorcycles are, so my parents never trusted me and always preferred to accompany me.’

What her son does in tennis is a matter of absolute priority for Francesca, Flavio explained some time ago.

‘She doesn’t do well with matches, and she’s also very superstitious. She puts on a brave face; she has even gone so far as to lock herself in the bathroom for five hours because she won a competition. She is very superstitious and you should not disturb her rituals.’

Francesca was in Paris today, at the Philippe Chatrier Stadium.

“We have to thank her; I think she deserves to be here today; she never comes, almost never, just because we are so in the family. My mother plays an important role in my life, but I think she has now found her balance by staying home, being with my brother, working. So she only comes when she feels the need to be there, to give me some positive energy.’

There is no arrogance or vanity on Cobolli’s part, but rather genuine amazement at what he has achieved in the past two weeks.

In the final this Sunday he lost in five sets to the German Alexander Zverev, Cobolli produced sublime points and glaring errors. Nothing sums this up better than the last two points of the fourth set tiebreak, which the Italian won 7-5.

On the first point, with Zverev beaten and pinned at the back, Cobolli had a very simple volley to play, but the shot sailed several meters wide. But on the next point he redeemed himself with a parallel forehand packed with power and precision. The sublime and the terrible. Flavio Cobolli, take it or leave it.

What happened at those two points? The question could be extended to the entire match.

“I closed my eyes,” the Italian replied.

“On both counts or just the first?” the journalist wanted to know.

“Maybe on both,” Cobolli said, smiling. “To be honest, I felt tired in the tiebreak, but I also told myself that I had to go for the points, that maybe I would win the set and then I could see what happened in the fifth. But yes, I think I closed my eyes. That helps sometimes.”