After football, tennis haş caught Italy's imagination

If he wanted, Flavio Cobolli could have become a beloved footballer. He was, after all, a budding star in the youth ranks of Italian giants AS Roma. But in a country where football is the most important sport, Cobolli chose to follow an upward trend.

- Shahid Judge

“Tennis will never replace football in Italy, but it is definitely growing fast,” Cobolli told HT. “After the recent successes, I see more kids picking up a racquet and more fans following the sport. It’s great for Italian tennis.”

Now 23, Cobolli is an important contributor to the “successes”. He made his way to a quarterfinal finish at Wimbledon last month. It made him the latest player from Italy to make a strong push to the upper echelons of the sport, breaking into the top 20 in the world rankings for the first time. He is also a part of the growing list of Italians, across the men’s and women's tours, that are in the top 100 in world rankings.

In the men’s ATP circuit, nine Italians are in the top 100 — the most by a non-Grand Slam host nation. The women’s circuit has only three players in the top 100, but the country is the reigning champion at both the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cupthe premier world team events for women and men respectively.