Great bitterness but, at the same time, awareness of having given everything and still being one step away from the feat. Flavio Cobolli he came close to achieving the feat in the second round of Roland Garros against Holger Rune: down 2-0, the Italian was able to start an incredible comeback against the former world number 4.
The two put on a unique show in the decisive part, going all the way to the super tie-break. At that point, despite the handicap start (0-5), the greater experience accumulated in this type of matches by the Dane made the difference and weakened the blue’s courage.
In the press conference, the 22-year-old analyzed the match that eliminated him from the draw in Paris: “I had the greatest opportunity at 5-5, 0-40. In the tie-break, despite the large advantage, I didn’t have drops and I didn’t make any bad choices.
In crucial moments he was helped by his greater experience, he knew he had to make me play more balls, but I was in a bit of a hurry. But I can’t regret anything, I never gave up, I was a warrior and I came really close” he declared, in the words reported by SuperTennis.
Then, the native of Florence recognized his opponent’s great talent: “Up until the last point he always looks for a trick, he always has some trick to pull out of his hat. It’s one of his qualities and in the end he was better than myself”.
Cobolli will start again from the grass
A result that virtually brings him into the top 50 in the world ranking, fading the dream of qualifying for the Olympics: “I’m doing a good job on my body and I’ve refined some technical details.
When I hit the ball I feel that there is no difference between me and these top players, this bodes well for the future.” On the grass season that awaits him: “I have to start from scratch, let’s hope for the best. It’s a new surface for me and I’ll have to study quite a bit. The tournaments before Wimbledon will be very useful for learning.”
