Flavio Cobolli Criticizes Crowd Noise After US Open Upset: “It’s Very Tough for Us”

Flavio Cobolli‘s campaign at the US Open ended on Saturday (September 5). The Italian ace, who lost in the third round of this event for the third consecutive time after making his debut in 2024, fell to Alexander Blockx 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.

Then, at the press conference later, Cobolli complained about the noisy crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium. He said he lacked energy during the match, joking that Coke doesn’t help much to deal with low energy, and that he should take Red Bull in such situations in the future. Then he attributed the lack of energy to the hot conditions and the loud noise.

Maybe because I played a lot, and here it’s really tough to play. Today was hot, and the court is very loud. So my focus wasn’t really on the match, but I don’t know why. That’s the thing that I have to talk with the team also. Maybe I was a little bit more nervous also with the team. But tennis is like this. You cannot go in the court and feeling always 100%. So today was like this, and I have to take it.

Flavio Cobolli said

Cobolli was not the first player to criticize the crowd. Several top players, including Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, have complained about the strong smell of weeds as well as the influencers disrupting the matches with bright lights to film content.

Yeah, I mean, since the first day. We always used to play with silence, nobody moves, nobody talks, with a great atmosphere. Here it’s really different. We have a great atmosphere, but it’s very, very loud. For us, it’s really tough to play. Maybe we have to play like this for more weeks because if you come here and there’s different rules, it’s very tough for us. I didn’t lose because of the noise, of course.

Flavio Cobolli added

Cobolli produced his best Grand Slam performance when he reached the final of the French Open this year, losing a five-set thriller to Alexander Zverev. This saw Sascha end his Grand Slam title drought.

Later at Wimbledon, Cobolli reached the quarterfinal for the second consecutive time, losing in straight sets to Arthur Fery. Prior to the US Open, the 24-year-old played the two Masters 1000s on the North American hardcourt swing, losing in the opening round of the Canadian Open and the semifinal of the Cincinnati Masters to eventual champion Arthur Fils.

Flavio Cobolli reveals what he told Alexander Blockx at the net

Alexander Blockx will next be locking horns with Francisco Cerundolo, who overcame a two-set deficit to upset ninth seed and home favorite Taylor Fritz. Blockx met Flavio Cobolli for the third time in his career.

The win has helped Blockx improve his head-to-head record to 2-1. Following the match, the two exchanged some words at the net, about which the 2026 French Open runner-up was asked at the press conference.

You want to know what [I] said to him? I just said, ‘I love you. You deserve, and I will cheer for you for the next round.’ I mean, this is not maybe Francisco want to know because I didn’t know that he played with him. But I said before, Alex is a very good guy also outside the court. So nothing… he deserved to win, and he won. So he’s a good guy, and I wish him good luck for the rest of the tournament.

Cobolli has reached three finals this year, winning the Mexican Open by defeating Frances Tiafoe. Before losing the French Open to Alexander Zverev, Cobolli failed to beat Ben Shelton in the Munich Open final.

Also read: Madison Keys Gives Heartbreaking Reality on her US Open Collapse Against Qinwen Zheng