In recent years, the ATP Tour has seen several notable father-son partnerships flourish.
Casper Ruud, mentored by his father and former player Christian Ruud, has claimed 12 tour-level titles. Australian Open semi-finalist Ben Shelton tasted trophy success at ATP events in Tokyo and Houston alongside his father and two-time titlist Bryan Shelton. Sebastian Korda clinched titles in Parma and Washington with guidance from his father and former World No. 2 Petr Korda.
Heading into 2025 and Flavio Cobolli – Korda’s victim in the 2024 Washington final – will be hoping to become the latest star to win a title under the guidance of their former pro father.
Cobolli began working with his dad Stefano Cobolli five years ago when he was 17 but gained major attention on the Tour for the first time last year. The Italian started 2024 outside the Top 100 in the PIF ATP Rankings but rose to a career-high No. 30 in October.
Cobolli is excited by the increased success he is achieving alongside his father.
“My dad was a good player but he stopped when he was young, so he had a slightly lower ranking than me,” Cobolli told ATPTour.com in Rotterdam. “He is an incredible coach now and we have a great relationship.
“When I was young, we wanted to keep tennis and our relationship separate. I used to play a lot of football and we would talk about that, but we didn’t talk about tennis. He wanted me to improve alone and then he said when I was ready he would help. We started a few years ago and we have put in a lot of work together since we started and last year was really good. We want to do more now.”
Under the guidance of his father, Cobolli won two ATP Challenger Tour titles before he qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF in 2023.
Cobolli’s career then hit new heights in 2024. The 22-year-old reached the third round at the Australian Open and US Open and his maiden ATP Tour final in Washington. With professional sport a pressure cooker at times, Cobolli feels the importance of implementing boundaries with his father has helped their working relationship flourish.
“It is tough when your dad is your coach," Cobolli said. "As I said, when I was young we would just discuss football. As I have grown up and we have worked together, we have developed a really good relationship and I listen to him more now than ever before. I think we can do great things together.
“It is important that when we are home, we don’t talk about tennis. If we fight on court, we keep it on court. It can be tough on court at times because we both want to be right, but he is a great person and I love working with him.”
Cobolli will hope to kickstart his season this week at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam, where he takes on Hubert Hurkacz in the first round.
The Italian arrives in The Netherlands 2-4 on the year but it is not a record that should alarm. Cobolli suffered a shoulder injury in Vienna in October and was unable to train during the off-season. He has spent the past month trying to regain full fitness in what he describes as a testing period.
“It was a tough beginning of the season because I was injured in Vienna,” Cobolli said. “I had a problem on my shoulder and it was bad. It was tough to come back from the injury as it was my first main one and took time. I need to get matches in my legs now that I feel fully recovered.
“It was impossible to play until the last day of pre-season. I did a lot of physiotherapy and had massages and was in the gym a lot, but I didn’t get to hit a ball. It was frustrating. I tried to switch off at the start of pre-season. I went to Zanzibar in November for a week and I totally switched off. But then it was just frustrating when I couldn’t train after that. When I started to train more, the happier I felt.
“It was tough in Australia because I was not in good shape, so I could not do the best that I know I can. It is not until now that I feel my season can start.”
One man who did well in Australia was Cobolli’s countryman Jannik Sinner. The No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings captured his third major and second at the Australian Open to move him to 19 tour-level titles won.
But has the extent of Sinner’s success surprised Cobolli?
“I am not surprised because Jannik was born with star quality,” Cobolli said. “He is just a star. The Italian Federation has worked well for the past 10 years and you can see the success below Jannik too. Now we have a good group of us coming through from that work and we are happy about our situation. The Federation invested a lot of money into us and I think they are doing a great job. They continue to evolve and support us.”
Since 2017, Italy has been in the spotlight for year-end events on Tour. The country hosted the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF from 2017 to 2022, while Turin has hosted the Nitto ATP Finals since 2021. Italy will also host the Davis Cup Final 8 from 2025 to 2027.
Cobolli believes these tournaments have helped with the growth of talent in the European country.
“Having Next Gen in Milan was great. If you have one of the best tournaments in the world in your country when you are young, you are motivated to follow and play there,” said Cobolli, who was an alternate in Milan in 2021. “I grew up following this tournament and it pushes you to improve. We also have the Nitto [ATP Finals] and Davis Cup in Italy, so this is great for Italian tennis and can help it develop further.”
For now, Cobolli and his father Stefano will keep their focus in Rotterdam. The World No. 34 faces eighth seed Hurkacz on Monday on his tournament debut.
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