Italian tennis player Flavio Cobolli has revealed he’s been channeling some unusual inspiration during his remarkable French Open performance – by using the same shower stall that tennis legend Rafa Nadal has claimed for over a decade.
The 24-year-old Italian advanced to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal Wednesday with a comeback victory over fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, winning 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 in Paris. During his post-match interview, Cobolli shared that he’s been maintaining strict routines throughout the tournament, including keeping identical tension in his racket strings.
The 10th-seeded player explained he’s sticking to his daily patterns so religiously that he chose not to stay and watch fellow Italians Matteo Berrettini and Matteo Arnaldi compete, opting instead for dinner with friends as usual.
“I am a little bit (superstitious), but not crazy,” Cobolli explained to reporters afterward.
“But you know, this week, I’m a little bit more crazy than the others. I just go same restaurant, same menu, same shower.”
“Actually, I think I said in the first press conference that I used the same shower as Rafa Nadal, because I had memories with that shower.”
Cobolli recounted an encounter where the former world number one actually approached the locker room shower door while he was inside, asking him to hurry up.
“He told me that it has been his shower since 14 years,” Cobolli said.
“So I think the best thing that I’m doing (this year) … the shower.”
