Meet Flavio Cobolli: Five things to know about Djokovic’s Shanghai opponent | ATP Tour

Five Things You Should Know

Meet Flavio Cobolli: Five things to know about Djokovic’s next opponent in Shanghai

Learn about another game he grew up playing and his love for tattoos

October 08, 2024

Flavio Cobolli enjoyed the biggest rise of any player in the 2024 season and on Tuesday, he will check how far he has come.

The Italian, who is as high as No. 30 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will face 99-time world number one Novak Djokovic in the third round of the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Ahead of the first pairing of the Lexus ATP Head2Head, ATPTour.com takes a look at five things you should know about the 22-year-old Cobolli.

Flavio dreamed of facing Novak
Although Cobolli has a good relationship with other Italians such as Fabio Fognini, he worshiped Djokovic.

“He has been my idol since I started playing tennis. I grew up with his videos, and his matches, and now I’m going to sleep, I’m going to sleep with his shots [in my mind],” Cobolli said after defeating Stan Wawrinka on Monday in the second round of Shanghai. “It’s great to play with him and I want to enjoy all the points I will make on this pitch.”

The Italian will try to secure the first Top 10 win of his career. He will come to the court with a record of 0-7 against the best team.

Entered in 2024
Last year, Cobolli entered the big stage when he competed in the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF. But in 2024, he has taken his game to the next level.

Entering the year, Cobolli had never climbed higher than World No. 95 and had only six tour-level wins. This season alone he has achieved 34 victories, won at least one match in all four majors and advanced to his first ATP Tour final in Washington.

“I was shaking, shaking all the time. I can’t explain this sound because it’s the first time I’ve been anywhere,” said Cobolli after defeating Ben Shelton to reach the finals. “Every competition is my first time. Every game for the first time. I can show that I can learn from every game.”

Flavio’s father was a coach and now he is his coach
Stefano Cobolli, Flavio’s father, climbed to No. 236 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Ironically, he holds a win against Wawrinka, whose son lost on Monday in Shanghai.

Stefano is now Flavio’s coach. However, their professional collaboration only began when Flavio was 17 years old.

“He always told me, ‘You have to develop yourself. You have to make your own life, and I will help you later’,” Cobolli recalled. “’I’d like to do this job so I can help you later, when you’re ready.

His best friend is a soccer player
Cobolli is a big fan of AS Roma. One of his best friends, Edoardo Bove, played for the team. The Italians met at the age of seven, played football together and have been close ever since.

Bove is currently competing with Fiorentina, on loan from Roma.

“We communicate every day. We have a great relationship. Also, when I’m at home, we go to make dinner with our girlfriends, so we can have a good relationship with his family. “When I win the game, his father starts writing to me,” said Cobolli. “We started with tennis, because he was also a tennis player. Then we met in Trigoria, the place where Roma practice.”

Cobolli loves tattoos and has many
The Italian has several tattoos – some visible while competing, while others are invisible. One of his most meaningful tattoos is a quote from his idol, football legend until last month AS Roma manager Daniele De Rossi. It reads: “Sei tu l unica mia sposa sei tu I unico mio amor”.

In English, that means: “You are my only wife, you are my only love”. This is a phrase that De Rossi used to wear on his captain’s armband when he was a player.

💪 pic.twitter.com/SYqV5IsxQW

– Flavio Cobolli (@cobollifla) February 6, 2024

Some tattoos include the phrase “to win” in Italian, others in Chinese for “courage” and “motivation”, the Roman wolf and the symbol of Florence. He also has mountains and what he calls “a grudge face”.

Coblli added: “I like to do tattoos, because I like it [having] my body is painted, so there is no reason for that. I just love it. I get up and go.”