London, July 7: On his first match point, Flavio Cobolli stepped up and unleashed a 135 mph first serve down the T that landed on the line and sent a puff of chalk into the air on No. 1 Court at Wimbledon.
Fifth-seeded opponent Alex de Minaur could barely touch the serve and the Australian’s weak return didn’t even go past his own service line.
Cobolli reacted by leaping into the air and pumping his fist. He launched a ball into the crowd before moving forward to shake hands with De Minaur.
Then the Italian moved on to the performance he’d been waiting for.
Cobolli put his racket down and went back out into the centre of the court and launched himself into the most iconic celebration in football: twirling in mid-air like Cristiano Ronaldo, he then landed on the grass with his feet planted wide and jerked his arms down by his side.
The mostly English crowd knew just what was going on and shouted “Siuuu” along with Cobolli.
“I love his celebration. I love him,” said Cobolli, who was once a promising football player himself in Roma’s youth system.
In his previous match, Cobolli performed a surfing celebration borrowed from Brazil striker Matheus Cunha.
Antonelli and Sinner
While four-time champion Italy failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup, the country has no lack of sports stars and a few of them were in the spotlight at the grass-court Grand Slam on Monday.
Cobolli’s 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over a fellow top-10 player to reach the quarterfinals was a statement win as he attempts to back up his run to the French Open final.
At the same time over on Centre Court, Jasmine Paolini ended the run of rising Filipino player Alexandra Eala with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory to return to the last eight at a Grand Slam for the first time since back-to-back runs to the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals two years ago.
Watching Paolini from the Royal Box was Kimi Antonelli, the 19-year-old Italian driver who leads the Formula One standings for Mercedes.
“I met Kimi afterward,” Paolini said. “I’ve been following him a lot lately. I’m becoming an F1 fan. He seems like a real nice kid and very down to earth.”
Coinciding with Italy’s troubles in football, Antonelli and defending Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner – who beat Jan-Lennard Struff on Tuesday – have become the country’s most popular athletes.
Cobolli, too, is rapidly gaining attention after his run to the Paris final, where he pushed Alexander Zverev to five sets.
World Cup and gelato
After the victory over De Minaur, Cobolli’s grandfather had to go and find a new house for their team in the Wimbledon village since they had only reserved through the first week.
Now they can maintain Flavio’s nightly routine during the fortnight: dinner cooked by his father and coach, Stefano, and shared with his best friend, Watford midfielder Edoardo Bove, before watching a World Cup match and downing a tub of gelato (pear and white chocolate is Cobolli’s flavour for the tournament).
“An Italian family give us all the house here in Wimbledon,” Cobolli said. “So it’s really cool.”
Cobolli’s quarterfinal opponent will be Arthur Fery – the 23-year-old British player who grew up just five minutes from the All England Club. (AP)
