Flavio Cobolli is enjoying arguably the best tournament of his young career at Wimbledon having progressed to the quarter-finals. The Italian faces Novak Djokovic today on Centre Court for a spot in the final four having already beaten 15th seed Jakub Mensik and 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic in his last two matches.
But things could have gone very differently for Cobolli, a massive AS Roma fan who played for the club’s academy growing up. Cobolli eventually opted for tennis but his best friend is Edoardo Bove, who rose through the ranks at Roma and spent last season on loan at Fiorentina. And the 23-year-old midfielder suffered a scary incident last December when he collapsed during a Serie A match against Inter Milan.
“It was tough because I watched the game live. I was in front of my TV, and I froze immediately,” Cobolli told ATPTour.com. “When I watched that moment, I called my mom, crying, and she told me, ‘Flavio, stop there, I’ll come to you’, because it was tough for me.
“I couldn’t drive and go home. My mom came and we went home to follow that moment on TV. We waited a few hours to stay a little bit more relaxed on that specific thing. It was tough.
“The family called me (later) and said to me, ‘Stay relaxed, because he’s okay. Continue doing your thing and stay focused on your thing’. So now I’m okay, and he’s okay. That is the important thing.
“He’s doing better. Now he’s happy, and he’s also relaxing a little bit at home. Like I said before, he’s always smiling.”
It later emerged that Bove, 23, had suffered a cardiac arrest. He was discharged from hospital 12 days after the incident after having a defibrillator fitted. The Italy under-21 international has still not played since but hopes to return to the pitch next season.
He was in tears on the field after Roma’s Curva Sud paid tribute to him at the Stadio Olimpico when Fiorentina faced the Giallorossi in early May.
Cobolli and Bove met at the age of seven and played in the Roma youth teams together. Cobolli added: “I started playing in Roma on the team at nine years old, and he was playing tennis, and then we changed. He was playing football more than me, and I played tennis more than him.
“I think the funniest thing is we are here [together] since we were young. It is a great thing. We love to speak about that.”
Bove was at Wimbledon last year to watch Cobolli, who lost in the second round to Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo. And he returned to SW19 on Monday to witness his best pal beat Cilic with the two sharing a hug post-match.
Discussing their relationship last year, Cobolli said: “We talk every day with each other, and we have a big relationship. I went to his home for two days in Florence, and he’s okay. He’s always smiling, and I’m with him always.”
Bove will most certainly be in Cobolli’s corner again today when the burgeoning world No.24 seeks the biggest scalp of his career. He only has one top-10 win to his name, against Holger Rune at the Madrid Open, and that came with the Dane forced to retire after the first set.
But the Hamburg Open winner is relishing the test of facing Djokovic, who he confessed is his “biggest idol”. He said: “It will be tough for me, for sure, because I will be a little bit nervous, because also it’s my first time on this kind of court. I never played on a big, big court here.
“So I think it’s the dream of everyone here to play against him in the quarter final. So I want to enjoy the match, I want to enjoy everything about the match. I want to enjoy every point. Yeah, I think I’m ready to play with him.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk