Cobolli on learning from Alcaraz leaving McDonald's behind

p Good things come to those who wait. /p

p a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/flavio-cobolli/c0e9/overview'Flavio Cobolli/a has reaped the rewards of that philosophy this year on the ATP Tour. The 22-year-old Italian has enjoyed a breakout 2024, racking up 31 of his 37 career tour-level wins and rising to the brink of the Top 30 in the PIF ATP Rankings. For someone who had won just six tour-level matches entering the season, that is quite some progress. /p

p ldquo;Since I was young, I told myself, lsquo;You are good at tennis. You can do well in this sport. Stay calm, take your time and be patient, because the results will comersquo;,rdquo; Cobolli told ATPTour.com. ldquo;This year, the results came, so Irsquo;m happy.rdquo;nbsp;/p

p Cobolli enjoyed an extra reward for his breakout season last week, when he joined Team Europe as an alternate for its successful a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/laver-cup/9210/overview'Laver Cup/a campaign. Just eight months after he entered the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time, Cobolli spent a week in Berlin rubbing shoulders and practising with the likes of a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/bjorn-borg/b058/overview'Bjorn Borg/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniil-medvedev/mm58/overview'Daniil Medvedev/a. /p

blockquote class="twitter-tweet"p lang="en" dir="ltr"Final score from Berlin ????br /br /???? Team Europe: 1️⃣3️⃣br /???? Team World: 1️⃣1️⃣a href="https://twitter.com/LaverCup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@LaverCup/a | a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LaverCup?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#LaverCup/a a href="https://t.co/EtsA5fmPiV"pic.twitter.com/EtsA5fmPiV/a/pmdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1837958573776949649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"September 22, 2024/a/blockquote script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"/script

p ldquo;I learned a lot from the guys. They are amazing,rdquo; Cobolli said in Berlin. ldquo;I didnrsquo;t know anyone here [except Alcaraz], but since the first day I came here they treated me well. They helped me a lot. They gave me some tips for the future, for the rest of the season. They are really nice and I enjoyed this week. /p

p ldquo;I knew Carlos well. We are the same age, and we know each other really well. We have a nice relationship. I prefer to talk about other things than tennis with him, but I asked [Grigor] Dimitrov a lot of things, and Zverev. Guys that have a little bit more experience. Of course, Carlos is already a legend of our sport, but we prefer to talk about football or other things for now!rdquo;/p

pnbsp;/p

p After impressing but falling just short of a semi-final spot at the 2023 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/next-gen-atp-finals/7696/overview'Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF/a last November, Cobolli spent time training with Alcaraz in the offseason. He credits that stint as the key to his impressive rise this year. /p

p ldquo;I did a lot of work in pre-season,rdquo; he said. ldquo;We worked a lot to improve on my game and my [mentality]. We went to the Ferrero Academy in Villena with Carlos. We did a lot of work, had fun together, and I think beginning the season like this helped me a lot for the results. I learned a lot from his team, and I had good results after that preseason.rdquo;/p

pimg alt="a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/thomas-enqvist/e113/overview'Thomas Enqvist/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/grigor-dimitrov/d875/overview'Grigor Dimitrov/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/flavio-cobolli/c0e9/overview'Flavio Cobolli/a of Team Europe at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/laver-cup/9210/overview'Laver Cup/a." style="width:100%;" src="/-/media/images/news/2024/09/23/20/51/cobolli-alcaraz-dimitrov-laver-cup-2024.jpg" /br /

emsupsubsupPhoto Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images./sup/sub/sup/em/p

em

/em

pem/emCobollirsquo;s first event of the year was the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/australian-open/580/overview'Australian Open/a, where he needed to earn entry in the main draw through qualifying. He successfully did so and advanced to the third round in Melbourne, which proved a pivotal and a crucial confidence-booster./p

p ldquo;I was one out [of the main draw] before the tournament, so I was really [disappointed],rdquo; he recalled. ldquo;But I qualified and then I won against [Nicolas] Jarry in five sets, so that match meant a lot to me. I also beat Felix [Auger-Aliassime] in February in Acapulco. It was a really good time for my career.rdquo; /p

p Besides Alcaraz, Cobollirsquo;s full-time presence on the ATP Tour has led to him crossing paths with another former World No. 1 and Grand Slam champion. In April in Barcelona, he was drawn to face a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rafael-nadal/n409/overview'Rafael Nadal/a in the Spaniardrsquo;s first competitive match for more than three months. /p

p Taking on Nadal in front of an adoring home crowd was always going to be a tough assignment, and the 22-time major champion prevailed 6-2, 6-3. Yet Cobolli stayed true to his philosophy of staying patient in the face of tough outcomes, and he believes he took plenty away from the experience. /p

p ldquo;Playing with Rafa is another level,rdquo; Cobolli said. ldquo;I watched him since I was young on TV and when the draw came out, I said, lsquo;I donrsquo;t know if I want to play with him, because I donrsquo;t know if I deserve it. I donrsquo;t know if Irsquo;m readyrsquo;. Of course I was a little bit nervous at the beginning, throughout the whole match even. /p

p ldquo;It was a good experience. I enjoyed every point I did with him, and of course I learned also from that match. Things that helped me for the weeks that came after.rdquo; /p

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p Cobolli, who reached his maiden tour-level final in Washington last month, will next compete at another hard-court ATP 500, the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/beijing/747/overview'China Open/a in Beijing. As he nears the end of his first full season on Tour, is there one key lesson he has learned from spending more time with the worldrsquo;s best players? /p

p ldquo;I think not just the Top 5 players in the world, but also the Top 50, they are really professional, and they never miss a thing,rdquo; he said. ldquo;They spend a lot of time recovering their bodies and healing well. All the training sessions they do are 100 per cent. At the beginning of the year, it wasnrsquo;t like this for me. I did 70 or 80 per cent, I ate McDonald's. Now it has changed after I watched them. I changed it.rdquo; /p

p [NEWSLETTER FORM] /p