Belinda Bencic was left with her head in her hands during Flavio Cobolli’s hilarious runner-up speech at the US Open. The Swiss-Italian duo made it all the way to the mixed doubles final in Flushing Meadows before losing to Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik.
Cobolli, who reached a maiden Grand Slam final at Roland Garros earlier this year, was full of praise for his partner and spoke of how much he enjoyed playing with her. But things quickly took a turn when he had to clear things up about where he stood with Bencic.
Speech takes an awkward turn
“Belinda, you are a gift. I love to play with you, I love to stay with you,” the Italian said, before realising how that sounded. “Not in that sense!” Cobolli added, turning to Bencic’s box as she put her head in her hands, laughing. The rest of the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd was in stitches, too.
The world No. 6 dusted himself off and kept going. “But you [have] an incredible team around, you always have a supporter, you always support me, so thank you for everything,” he continued. “Thanks for what you give me every day on these weeks and also on the weeks that we play in the past. So, also to you, I wish you good luck for the tournament. You deserve to win a Grand Slam one day.”
Bencic's playful demand
Bencic also had kind words for Cobolli and told the 24-year-old that he had to remain loyal to their mixed doubles partnership until her career was over. “To Flavio, why did you go so far?” the former Olympic champion asked, as Cobolli had taken a few steps back on the stage.
He came closer as Bencic continued her speech. “Thank you so much for playing with me. I think it was kind of a coincidence how we started, but I really enjoyed every single match that we played together and you give so much energy and we have such a positive vibe. As I told you before, now you’re not allowed to play with no one else until my career finishes! And I hope we can try this again and hopefully win one title.”
Looking ahead to singles
It’s high praise from the world No. 12, who often teamed up with tennis icon and compatriot Roger Federer in the Hopman Cup days. Together, they won the tournament twice in 2018 and 2019.
Bencic and Cobolli will now turn their attention to the singles event in New York. The US Open is the Swiss star’s best Grand Slam tournament – she reached the semi-finals in 2019, and the quarters in 2014 and 2021. Cobolli is full of form after reaching his first Masters 1000 semi-final in Cincinnati last week. The Italian will be the No. 5 seed in Flushing Meadows. He’s never been beyond the third round of the US Open but reached a maiden Major final at the French Open earlier this year and has made back-to-back Wimbledon quarter-finals.
