{"id":86584,"date":"2025-07-07T10:50:53","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T14:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=86584"},"modified":"2025-07-07T10:50:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T14:50:53","slug":"flavio-cobolli-reaches-first-wimbledon-quarterfinal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/07\/07\/flavio-cobolli-reaches-first-wimbledon-quarterfinal\/","title":{"rendered":"Flavio Cobolli Reaches First Wimbledon Quarterfinal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Flavio Cobolli continues to dream at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/wimbledon\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Wimbledon<\/a>. The 23-year-old Italian defeated former finalist <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/07\/04\/marin-cilic-goran-ivanisevic-wimbledon\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Marin Cilic<\/a> 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(3) to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. Cobolli\u2019s remarkable run has seen him drop just one set en route to the final eight. After two comfortable wins against qualifier Denis Zhukayev and wildcard Henry Searle Pinnington Jones, he made a big statement by defeating No. 15 seed Jakub Mensik in straight sets. It marked the first time he had ever reached the second week of a Slam \u2014 but he didn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n<p>His continued success has highlighted just how much he has improved on grass, a surface he once found deeply frustrating.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI grew up playing on clay. The first few times I tried competing on grass, I was lost. I hated this surface. But I&#8217;ve been really enjoying it for a while now,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ubitennis.net\/2025\/07\/three-years-ago-i-hated-grass-flavio-cobollis-frank-admission-after-wimbledon-breakthrough\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he admitted in the press conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8216;It&#8217;s a maiden major quarter-final for Flavio Cobolli&#8221; \ud83e\udd79<\/p>\n<p>Italian Cobolli defeats Marin Cilic to reach the Last 8 of <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Wimbledon?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Wimbledon<\/a> for the first time, doing so by winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(3) \ud83d\udca5<\/p>\n<p>Just look at what it means to him and his family \u2665\ufe0f <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LVLb9moNKI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/LVLb9moNKI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Wimbledon\/status\/1942220029669372257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 7, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>A Career Milestone on Grass<\/h2>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2223324914\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 67.00337% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2223324914?et=Q0AR3rBqQxZsmziJi8DY-A&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=8UCSy8-EuFockNQ_1wkVzGdX5AyOn8cC8IJicfvj7v0=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"398\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thanks to his Wimbledon run, Cobolli is now set to make his debut inside the ATP Top 20 \u2014 a significant milestone for a player whose 2025 season started inauspiciously. After two wins at the United Cup, he suffered eight consecutive losses. Still, there was no need to panic as there was a reason behind it: an off-season injury had disrupted his training schedule, and he had to skip a planned training block with his close friend Carlos Alcaraz at Juan Carlos Ferrero\u2019s Academy in Spain.<\/p>\n<p>Cobolli turned things around in Bucharest, where he won his maiden ATP title. Just a few months later, he claimed another trophy in Hamburg, defeating ATP 500 mainstay Andrey Rublev in the final \u2014 a victory that helped spark his confidence heading into the grass season.<\/p>\n<p>Before Wimbledon, Cobolli played two warm-up events. In Halle, he reached the quarterfinals by edging out Jo\u00e3o Fonseca and Denis Shapovalov in final-set tie-breaks, before falling to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/07\/04\/wimbledon-shake-up-19-seeds-alexander-zverev-out\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Alexander Zverev<\/a>. In Eastbourne, however, fatigue caught up with him, and he suffered an early exit against British player Jacob Fearnley. Still, he carried the momentum from his earlier matches into Wimbledon.<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, grass \u2014 once his least favorite surface \u2014 has played a key role in his story. Before dedicating himself to tennis, Cobolli was a talented soccer player, even representing AS Roma\u2019s youth academy as a right-back. Eventually, he had to choose between the two sports, and tennis won.<\/p>\n<h3>A Moment He\u2019ll Never Forget<\/h3>\n<p>Tennis runs deep in the Cobolli family. His father Stefano, who is also his coach, was a professional player himself. In a poetic twist, both father and son have faced Stan Wawrinka \u2014 21 years apart. Stefano\u2019s highest ranking was No. 236, and his son reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals clearly struck an emotional chord. As Flavio achieved what his father never could, emotions ran high.<\/p>\n<p>His brother Guglielmo also shed tears after the match, and one of his closest friends, footballer Edoardo Bove \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/5960814\/2024\/12\/02\/edoardo-bove-fiorentina-update\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">who suffered a heart attack last fall<\/a> and he&#8217;s waiting for the green light to come back on the pitch \u2014 was there to support him in person, giving Flavio a heartfelt hug after the win.<\/p>\n<p>In his post-match interview, Cobolli let the emotion flow:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have always dreamed to be here, to play this tournament. You cannot imagine my emotion right now. I started playing tennis to play these kind of matches. I&#8217;m proud of myself and my team. I have all my family is here, so it&#8217;s very special \u2014 my dad is crying and my brother also&#8230; my big friend is here too. It&#8217;s a moment I will never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;You cannot imagine my emotion right now&#8221; \u2665\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>There were a fair few tears from Flavio Cobolli&#8217;s father and former professional player Stefano after watching his son reach the quarter-finals of <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Wimbledon?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Wimbledon<\/a> for the very first time \u2728 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aIAOpAzaFF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/aIAOpAzaFF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Wimbledon\/status\/1942220749982339268?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 7, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-<em>USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Flavio Cobolli continues to dream at Wimbledon. The 23-year-old Italian defeated former finalist Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(3) to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. Cobolli\u2019s remarkable run has seen him drop just one set en route to the final eight. After two comfortable wins against [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5454,"featured_media":70016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,9],"tags":[259,43124,15670,258,50,6457,21,43094],"class_list":["post-86584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wimbledon","category-featured","category-news","tag-atp-tour","tag-cobolli","tag-flavio-cobolli","tag-italian-tennis","tag-marin-cilic","tag-tennis-news","tag-wimbledon","tag-wimbledon-2025"],"modified_by":"Steen Kirby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86584"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86587,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86584\/revisions\/86587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}