Flavio Cobolli cracked the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in October shortly after winning his second ATP Challenger Tour title. The 21-year-old, who reached the quarter-finals at the ATP 250 event in Munich in April, made his major main-draw debut at Roland Garros in May, where he faced Carlos Alcaraz in the opening round. The Florence native is one of two Italians competing at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM.
But what is Cobolli like off-court? ATPTour.com caught up with the World No. 100 to talk about his perfect day without tennis, his love for football and more…
[ATP AWARDS]
If you could have dinner with three people, who would they be and why?
I will invite Daniele De Rossi, he’s a big football player in Rome. He’s my idol outside the court. Also Cristiano Ronaldo, and Novak Djokovic because I started to play tennis because of him and Fabio Fognini. I know Fabio, so I will choose Novak.
Describe your perfect day if you are not playing tennis.
I will sleep for a long time. Then I will hang out with my girlfriend. Play padel with my friends and play a football match. Then I will go to the stadium to watch AS Roma. I am a big fan of AS Roma. I have a tattoo for them.
If you had to choose between attending a music concert or a sporting event, what would you choose and why?
Sport event. My main sport outside of tennis is football, but I don’t like to watch tennis. So if I can choose between a tennis match and a football match, I would go to watch football.
Do you remember Italy winning the men’s European Championships two years ago?
Yeah, I watched the first match because I was in Rome and the others I watched on TV.
If you weren’t a tennis player, what job would you want?
I’d be a football player for sure, or a fireman.
Did you play football when you were younger?
I started to play tennis at two and then I changed to football. When I played football when I was young, I played four days a week and two days of tennis. Then I chose at 14 to go back to tennis. If I stayed in that way, maybe now I’d be in Serie A. (Laughs).
What is the most interesting thing you’ve done in your life?
I jumped into a swimming pool from 15 metres.
Who are your best friends on tour?
My best friend is Matteo Gigante. We started to play tennis at the same time. I miss him here. The situation with Luca Nardi is the same, we started to play at the same time and he is also a big friend.
What’s something you’ve learned playing this year?
I learned a lot of things but the important thing is work hard day by day. Because if you stopped for five hours, you stopped for one day. So you lose one day.