LONDON: As Flavio Cobolli breaks new ground at Wimbledon, his love for playing on the grass is also blossoming.
Cobolli, currently ranked 24th in the world, pulled off a convincing 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, win over 15th seed Jakub Mensik to record his first win over a top 20 player on the grass. Although this isn’t the only milestone the Italian has achieved. He has now registered three consecutive wins at a Tour-level grass court event for the first time and is through to his first Grand Slam fourth round.
The breakthrough has been coming for the 23-year-old who has already won two ATP titles in 2025, which were both on clay. Andrey Rublev, Joao Fonseca and Denis Shaovalov are some of the players he has beaten so far this year.
“It’s something that I’ve dreamt of a lot, since I started to play tennis. Especially here, it’s fantastic to reach the fourth round,” said Cobolli.
“I think I played one of the best matches ever in my life, almost perfect.
“I’m really happy to play on this surface because it makes me happy, but now it’s time to recover and think about the next round.”
On the surface, it appears that Cobolli’s love for the grass has been a long-time perspective. However, coming from a country where you grow up on clay courts, this has not always been the case.
“Three years ago, I completely hated the grass when I was playing as a junior,” he admits.
“Because with my tennis, we started to play tennis on clay in Italy. Most of the courts are on clay. You need more time to play on the grass.
“Now it makes me happy because I play good, but also because I can try other things from a clay or hard court.
“I think it’s good for me because I think I have one of the best returns on the tour.”
Now he is breaking new ground, the challenge is trying to keep it going. Whilst there has been plenty of success for Cobolli this year, there has also been frustration. After the United Cup in January, he lost eight out of his next nine matches played before winning the Bucharest Open.
So what has been the key to turning it around?
“I try to be better outside the court. I try to do the right things to be better in the court and outside the court,” he explains.
“I think it’s changing something, and also with the team I work a little bit better. I think this is the key to being a great player.”
Cobolli will next play either Jume Munar or Marin Cilic. According to the live ATP rankings, he is currently sitting in 20th place.
