Flavio Cobolli has received backlash following his Wimbledon quarter-final defeat.
Cobolli was beaten by wildcard Arthur Fery in straight sets, as he missed an opportunity to reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon.
This would have been a big disappointment for world number 10 Cobolli, and he made some interesting remarks after losing to Fery.
In his post-match press conference after being beaten by Fery, Cobolli admitted he had not watched the British wildcard’s other matches at Wimbledon, which he is now being criticised for.
Flavio Cobolli criticised for admitting he had not watched Arthur Fery’s other Wimbledon matches
“Really, today wasn’t my day,” Cobolli told press after the match. “Maybe he play better than the other matches. I don’t know. I didn’t see the other one. But I felt that his level is really high today.”
These comments from Cobolli have received a lot of attention, with tennis fans on social media criticising this oversight from the Italian.
One person wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Sooo…you didn’t watch any of his matches? Hmm. Perhaps your team should work on that.”
An additional social media user said, “Number 10 in the world doesn’t watch half a video of the opponent.”
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Many tennis fans also told Cobolli to look at perhaps making changes to his coaching team, which includes his father, Stefano Cobolli, as his main coach.
The criticism continued, “What do you mean you didn’t watch any of his previous matches??? If true, he needs to fire his whole team. QF of a major and you didn’t even watch your opponents previous matches…”
Another echoed, “Second that. Like WTAF – even as junior my daughters coach taught us to stalk/watch the opposition closely – write down their strengths and weaknesses.”
“What do you mean you didn’t watch his other matches? Before a fourth slam at Wimbledon, you didn’t bother watching videos of the matches of the guy you’re about to face? HELLO?? I’d say we need a supercoach ASAP because maybe dad just isn’t enough idk.”
Fery also beat Cobolli at the Australian Open earlier this year, and while it is unclear as to whether he had rewatched this match, the latter has also been accused of ‘underestimating’ his opponent.
“The craziest part of this is he didn’t watch any footage of his opponent for a quarter-final of a slam.. two days between matches and you’re saying in the presser you didn’t watch any footage of the guy who beat you 3-0 at Aussie this year? Completely underestimating Fery.”
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Flavio Cobolli has still cemented himself as a top player at Wimbledon
Cobolli is now likely to feel that he has missed an opportunity against the world number 114, and while the criticism may be fair, there are still a lot more positives for him.
It has been a very successful European summer for Cobolli, who reached the Roland Garros final last month.
Cobolli’s talent has always been clear, but the issue he has previously had is producing consistent results.
The 24-year-old has now backed up his Roland Garros result at Wimbledon, and Cobolli has now solidified himself as a top player.
Cobolli has also done this in terms of his ranking, as he has defended all of the points he earned from reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year and is confirmed to rise to a new career-high of world number nine.
He will now look to translate this to the hard court Grand Slams, at which Cobolli has not been able to surpass the third round at either the Australian Open or the US Open so far.
However, Cobolli is first scheduled to compete on clay at the Croatia Open in Umag next week, but that participation looks in doubt after his run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
