Flavio Cobolli shared in Paris St Germain’s Champions League celebrations at Roland Garros on Monday, just days before he aims to secure his own trophy. The Italian reached his second grand slam quarter-final with a 6-2 6-3 6-7 (3) 7-6 (5) French Open victory over Zachary Svajda, and as the 10th seed in a wide-open half of the draw, he has a golden opportunity to make a first final on Sunday.
Cobolli, who might have had a career in football and was in Roma’s academy as a boy before deciding to concentrate on tennis, returned to Court Philippe Chatrier to join PSG stars Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Bradley Barcola and Warren Zaire-Emery as they paraded their two Champions League trophies around the stadium. The Parc des Princes is only 500 metres away from Roland Garros, and matches on Saturday and Sunday evenings were punctuated by the sound of fireworks as fans celebrated PSG making it back-to-back titles with victory over Arsenal.
Dembele, who took part in a similar occasion last year, said: “It’s huge, we’ve worked every day. Roland Garros brings me luck, it’s exceptional.” Zaire-Emery, who led the crowd in singing the PSG song, added: “Bringing the second star back to Paris is incredible. The first is historic, the second is legendary.”
Cobolli remains good friends with a number of players he trained with at Roma, including Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori. “Everyone knows that I was a football player,” said the 24-year-old. “I even liked it more than tennis when I was young. But, at the end, I don’t like to play with a team – only in Davis Cup. So I decide to quit with football. When I play tennis, I feel different emotion and I feel better with myself.”
Cobolli was able to see most of the Champions League final, which Calafiori was confined to the bench for because of injury. “Arsenal scored and Paris started to play a little bit better and I think they deserved to win the Champions League,” he added. “It was a little bit unlucky for Riccardo. He didn’t play but for sure he will have more chance to play this kind of match. So I wish him good luck.”
