PARIS, June 4: An Italian man will be in the French Open final and it’s not Jannik Sinner.
Not Lorenzo Musetti, either.
Flavio Cobolli will play fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi on Friday in the first Grand Slam semifinal for both players.
Cobolli beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and Arnaldi advanced when Matteo Berrettini, yet another Italian, retired because of an injury to his left hip with Arnaldi leading 7-5, 5-2 on Wednesday.
Berrettini had received treatment during a medical timeout earlier in the second set.
“We have to be happy for Italian tennis,” Cobolli said.
While Sinner and Musetti were both in the last four a year ago, they were on opposite sides of the draw, meaning it will mark the first all-Italian men’s semifinal in Grand Slam history.
It’s been exactly 50 years since an Italian man won the French Open and 1976 champion Adriano Panatta was asked before the tournament to present the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy this year.
Cobolli comes from the same tennis club in Rome as Panatta, the Tennis Club Parioli.
Arnaldi said he first played Cobolli in the Italian under-14 championship: “We are good friends.”
Second-seeded Alexander Zverev and No. 26 Jakub Mensik will meet in the other semifinal.
While Italian tennis is booming, the 14th-ranked Cobolli, No. 104 Arnaldi and No. 105 Berrettini were not the Azzurri expected to get this far.
Top-ranked Sinner came to Paris on a 29-match winning streak and seemed destined to take the title after wasting three match points in the final against Carlos Alcaraz last year.
Musetti didn’t make it back to Roland Garros this year due to an injury.
But Cobolli, who at 24 is the same age as Sinner and Musetti, has dropped just two sets in five matches.
On a windy day inside Court Philippe-Chatrier, Auger-Aliassime whiffed on an overhead during the very first point of the match and also appeared disturbed when loud music was turned on accidentally over the stadium speakers during a key point later in the third set.
Still, the Canadian won the opening set — after which Cobolli left the court to regain his composure.
“I went to the toilet to think a bit, to change something,” Cobolli said.
“I just said to myself to fight, because I felt like this is the chance of my life and I have to give everything.”
Cobolli was a talented football player and a member of Roma’s youth club until he decided to focus full-time on tennis.
He was invited to join Paris Saint-Germain players when they brought soccer’s Champions League trophy onto the tennis court earlier in the week.No matter the result of his semifinal, Cobolli will enter the top 10 of the rankings for the first time next week. He could even have a trophy of his own to bring home.
ADRIANO PANATTA HAS BEEN WAITING FOR 50 YEARS
Adriano Panatta was expecting to award the French Open trophy to Jannik Sinner 50 years after his triumph in Paris.
Turns out he might still hand over the Coupe des Mousquetaires to a fellow Italian after the men’s singles final on Sunday after being invited by Roland Garros to take care of the honors on the anniversary of his 1976 triumph.
Despite Sinner’s stunning loss in the second round, Italy is assured to have a player in the championship match since Flavio Cobolli will face compatriot Matteo Arnaldi in the semifinals on Friday.
Cobolli comes from the same tennis club in Rome as Panatta did. Panatta’s father was the caretaker at the Tennis Club Parioli.
Several years ago, Cobolli and his father and coach, Stefano, paid Panatta a visit at the club in Treviso, northern Italy, that Panatta created after his playing career.“I told them he was going to be a great player,” Panatta said. “Of course, I didn’t realize it would be so soon.”
While Sinner came close last year when he had three match points in a five-set loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
No Italian man has raised the singles trophy in Paris since Panatta. Panatta was the only man to beat Bjorn Borg twice at the French Open (AP)
