Flavio Cobolli is set to play in his first Grand Slam final this Sunday, taking on Alexander Zverev for the Roland Garros crown.
It’s been a remarkable tournament, filled with unexpected results and surprises. In many ways, it makes sense that the final would be just as unpredictable.
But before the biggest match of his career, Sloane Stephens was left baffled by one choice he made.
Sitting down just a few feet from fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi, who wasn’t feeling well, raised eyebrows. She told TNT Sports: “That doesn’t make any sense to me at all,”
Flavio Cobolli reaches his first Grand Slam Final as Alexander Zverev waits
Matteo Arnaldi was forced to pull out of his semi-final against Flavio Cobolli due to illness, leaving the young Italian with a walkover into the final. The pair had been seen sitting together before the announcement, and Agassi later said the following.
“I could have beaten Arnaldi today at 56 years old. If you don’t show up, you can’t win, and it’s just disappointing. Obviously, he’s dealing with something that better be unimaginable, because it is a disappointment.”
“Why would they be sitting anywhere near each other? FaceTime him, call him. You never see a bus conference with two players anyway, so why would we do that for one?
“I’m a germaphobe. I would be like, get away from me. Like, don’t even breathe the same air I’m breathing. And obviously, if he’s vomiting, and, like, it’s contagious, a viral illness, whatever it is, we don’t need to know.
“No one on your team needs to be near him, and, you know, Italians are very lovey-dovey. They’re hugging, they’re doing all this, rubbing heads, the whole thing. Like, we don’t need to even be interacting if that’s the case, especially for Cobolli, who’s now through; that doesn’t make any sense to me at all.”
Cobolli now heads into his first-ever major final, where he’ll face Alexander Zverev.
How Flavio Cobolli has performed in finals throughout his career
It’s always tough to predict how someone will handle their first Grand Slam final. So, the next best thing is to look at how they’ve done in other finals, regardless of the stage.
Cobolli has played in five ATP Tour-level finals so far and has come out on top in three of them, giving him a solid 60% win rate.
His first final ended in defeat against Seb Korda at the 2024 Washington Open, but he bounced back with three consecutive wins after that, picking up titles in Romania, Hamburg and Mexico.
His most recent final appearance was a loss to Ben Shelton in Munich, though he did manage to beat Zverev on his way there.
The highest-level title he’s won so far is an ATP 500 event. Stepping into a Grand Slam final like Roland Garros is a much bigger stage than anything he’s experienced before.
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