(Video) Flavio Cobolli’s father burst into tears after son reached his maiden Grand Slam quarter-finals at Wimbledon

Flavio Cobolli will face Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the 2025 Wimbledon.

(Video) Flavio Cobolli’s father burst into tears after son reached his maiden Grand Slam quarter-finals at Wimbledon

Flavio Cobolli (via X/AS Roma)

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Flavio Cobolli earned his place in his first Grand Slam quarter-finals after beating Marin Cilic in a four-set thriller at the ongoing Wimbledon tournament. The Italian star, who was ranked outside the Top 100 two years ago, delivered one of the most outstanding performances of his career to set a new milestone for himself.

Cobolli arrived at Wimbledon without much experience, having never gotten to the semi-finals of a grass-court tournament. His best run on the surface was at the Terra Wortmann Open, where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Alexander Zverev in straight sets. But the World No. 24 has currently won four matches and dropped only one set.

His first major win on the surface was when he knocked out the Miami Open champion Jakub Mensik in straight sets on Saturday (July 5). The 23-year-old was not the favorite to win the match, but it didn’t matter in the end. Ahead of his match against Cilic, he was also not the favorite, as the Croatian star was a former finalist and had beaten Jack Draper in the second round.

However, that didn’t make Cobolli approach the game with any iota of fear. The Italian ace was fearless, hitting the ball with so much power and precision that it was very hard for Cilic to adapt to. It took the World No.83, the third set to finally break down Cobolli after prevailing in a very tight tie-break. But the Cobolli made sure it didn’t repeat the next set.

He forced Cilic to longer rallies, while effectively hitting a volley at any given chance. In the end, he overcame the Croatian star 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(3) to reach his maiden Grand Slam quarter-finals at the All England Club. That led his father and coach Stefano Cobolli to burst into tears.

Stefano Cobolli had never had the chance of reaching the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon or even a Grand Slam during his playing days. In fact, his career high ranking was World No.238. He only managed to get to the first round of Wimbledon in 2004 after going through the qualifying stages, but he lost to Robert Kendrick.

His son, however, has excelled at a fast pace on the Tour. The 23-year-old made his breakthrough last season, breaking into the Top 100, and will become the new World No.19 by next week even if he loses his quarter-finals clash. He has already won the tour-level titles in Romania and Hamburg this season.

Flavio Cobolli soaks in his win against Marin Cilic as Novak Djokovic awaits him next

Cobolli will now take a step further in his dream of making history at the Wimbledon as he is set to face Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. It will be the most difficult opponent the young player will face on grass, as the Serbian legend is a seven-time champion at the tournament. In fact, he recently claimed his 100th win at the event.

Flavio Cobolli (via X/Jose Morgado)
Flavio Cobolli (via X/Jose Morgado)

But Cobolli is focused on enjoying the moment with his family after making history at the grass-court Grand Slam. The World No.24 revealed that it was a dream come true to reach the last eight of Wimbledon.

It is something that I dreamed of since when I was young, since when I started to play tennis. Everyone in my family, on my team, told me every day that I was born to play matches like this because they saw me really cold, electric on the court. They always told me that I live for this kind of match. I think it is true because I really love to play against a big player, against a legend of our sport. I like to play on this kind of stage, this kind of tournament. I really love to play here in Wimbledon. I love to play on grass.

Djokovic and Cobolli will be facing each other for the second time in their careers. The former holds a 1-0 lead in their head-to-head record after overcoming the Italian star at the Shanghai Masters last year 6-1, 6-2.

Also read: (In Images) Grigor Dimitrov Collapses on Court Before Forced to Retire from his Wimbledon Fourth Round Against Jannik Sinner