Tennis star tells girlfriend to ‘keep home’ after – Sports News
Italian tennis star Flavio Cobolli jokingly blamed his girlfriend for his Munich Open last defeat to American Ben Shelton.
Last week was a combined bag of uncooked feelings for Cobolli, 23, who surprised No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev within the semifinals, earlier than collapsing in tears after studying his 13-year-old pal Mattia had handed away. Still, Cobolli pushed ahead in Munich in search of his fourth ATP Tour tennis title. He took on world No. 6, Shelton, in Sunday’s last on the clay courts in Germany. However, he got here up painfully short, dropping 2-6, 7-5, to his fellow 23-year-old.
“Thank you to my team. I hate you guys most of the time, but I also love you,” Cobolli began, earlier than turning his consideration towards his vital different. “I called yesterday my girlfriend. I said, ‘Please don’t let me lose,’ but she does so… maybe next time you stay home,” he quipped.
For Shelton, it was one other feather in his cap, as he continues to construct towards realizing his dream of singles Grand Slam glory. In three full seasons of Slam tennis, plus the 2026 Australian Open, Shelton has reached two semifinals and three quarterfinals.
Shelton is one of tennis’ greatest hitters, who’s wanting to break up the Carlos Alcaraz-Jannik Sinner strangelhold over the lads’s singles scene. “I came out at a really high level and have done that before against him,” Shelton said in his on-court interview.
“The toughest thing is maintaining it as he raises his level. I managed to do that in the second set and played some great tennis.
“I am happy with my performance this week. I got better and better as the week went on and I am happy with the work me and the team put in.”
Road to Roland-Garros
The clay courts at Roland-Garros can be his subsequent shot at Slam glory – a match dominated by Alcaraz the final two seasons. “I have big ambitions for the clay courts,” Shelton added. “It is a surface I want to get better on each year. It is slowly becoming one of my favorite surfaces to play on.”
“It’s a short season and some of the Americans choose not to play every event. But we had two guys in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year. Success on clay is coming back,” he continued. “I am looking forward to being part of this progression of U.S. men’s tennis on clay.
“On the women’s side, they have a lockdown as they won the French last year. We as the men have some more to do but we are heading into the right direction. This is just one step in a long swing and let’s see what happens.”
After profitable the ATP 500 match in Munich, Shelton will transfer onto the ATP 1000 competitors in Madrid this week. However, he gained’t depart Germany with out a little celebration. “We’ll go to a restaurant we visited a couple of times this week and enjoy the moment before flying to Madrid,” Shelton revealed.
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