Flavio Cobolli shared in Paris St Germain's Champions League celebrations at Roland Garros on Monday – and the Italian will be hoping to pick up another trophy in six days' time.
Cobolli 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 and in a wide open half of the draw – he has a golden opportunity to make a first final on Sunday.
Cobolli might have had a career in football and was in Roma's academy as a boy before deciding to concentrate on tennis.
The Italian 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 took part in a similar occasion last year having also conducted the French Open draw, and he 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 who 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. But I played with many guys that now are doing pretty well. We were in the same team and we have a good relationship. If I win a good match, they write (to) me, and the same with them."
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."
Cobolli looked to be cruising to victory when he led American Svajda 5-2 in the fourth set with two breaks of serve, only to lose both and be dragged into a deciding tie-break.
"I'm very happy to reach my first quarter-final here in Roland Garros," said Cobolli, who also made the last eight at Wimbledon last year. "That means a lot for me. I was a little bit nervous to close the match today. Sometimes it's not easy when you have to close, especially when you are up in the score like I was."
Such is the depth in Italian men's tennis that, despite Jannik Sinner's shock early exit, they are still well represented and Matteo Berrettini matched his best result here by beating his countryman's conqueror Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-3 7-6 (2) 7-6 (6).
The 30-year-old is the only player in the top half of the draw to have previously reached a slam final, having lost to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2021 but injuries have taken their toll in recent years.
The highest-ranked player left in the half is fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who had his most comfortable win so far in defeating Alejandro Tabilo 6-3 7-5 6-1.
Like Berrettini, Canadian Auger-Aliassime is more at home on faster surfaces but, if he can beat Cobolli next, he will fully believe this can be his year.
