A triumph. The conquest of the Davis Cup by Italy has once again turned the spotlight on the bond between Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli, now Azzurri teammates and protagonists in Bologna, but united by a friendship born long before their successes in the national team.
A film from 2011, which has gone viral in recent days, portrays them very young at the end of a day of play in Rome: Cobolli is just nine years old, Berrettini is fifteen. They are veterans of their respective matches at the Lemon Bowl, a historic youth tournament, and in the video they exchange jokes and smiles that reveal a harmony cultivated since they were children.
Fourteen years later, Berrettini occupies the 56th position in the ATP ranking after reaching sixth in 2022. Known as “The Hammer” for the power of his shots, he has collected ten singles titles between clay and grass, two of which at Queen’s. In his career he played in the Wimbledon final and in 2024 he lifted the Davis Cup together with his teammates. However, a path also marked by various injuries: from withdrawals from the Tokyo Olympics and the ATP Finals, to ankle problems in 2023 and the abdominal injury that forced him to withdraw from the Italian Internationals in 2024. He has repeatedly said how the support and training with Jannik Sinner were decisive in overcoming the difficulties.
Berrettini, born in Rome in 1996, grew up in tennis at the Circolo Magistrati della Corte dei Conti with Raoul Pietrangeli, and then continued at Aniene under the guidance of Vincenzo Santopadre. After thirteen years he started a new technical path with Francisco Roig.
Cobolli, born in Florence in 2002 but moved to Rome as a child, took his first steps in sport thanks to his father Stefano, a former tennis player. For a period he seemed destined for football, playing in Roma’s youth sector, but tennis soon took over. Today he trains at the Parioli Tennis Club, still supported by his father, and shares with Berrettini not only the city in which he grew up, but also the dream – now realized – of contributing to the successes of the Italian national team.