After Pushing Stan Wawrinka to Smash Racquet, Flavio Cobolli Fires off Brutally Honest Message to ‘Idol’ Novak Djokovic

Not many would’ve imagined a burst of emotions from the usually calm Stan Wawrinka. However, earlier today, the tennis world saw one of those rare moments when the Swiss star lost his cool. Wawrinka was involved in the second-round match against Flavio Cobolli at the ATP Shanghai Masters. However, at the beginning of the third set, he smashed his racket over his shin and completely destroyed it when he failed to convert a break point. Subsequently, he also went on to receive a point penalty and eventually lost that game to hand Cobolli a 3-0 lead in the decider. Following this controversial turn of events, Cobolli remembered his idol, Novak Djokovic.

The Italian star went on to defeat Wawrinka in a tight three-set match 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-3. Up next, he will face the former World Number 1, Djokovic, who also happens to be his idol. Excited with the prospects of coming up against his idol, Cobolli, during the post-match interview, said, “Djokovic is my idol and now I’m gonna face him. I wanna enjoy every moment.”

Interestingly, the two haven’t faced off before and the ATP Shanghai third-round match will be their maiden encounter against each other. However, the two have a similar playing style of court-attacking tennis, something which would be exciting to watch for the fans. Additionally, this isn’t the first time that Cobolli has opened up about his idol, Djokovic.

A couple of years back, he won his first title on the Challenger Tour at the Zadar Open. In an interview after that win, he revealed, “Novak Djokovic is my idol. He is going through a difficult time, but he will always remain my idol. He is the one I feel closest to among the Big-3 because we both like to defend and counter-attack. Also, we both return well.” However, the 22-year-old has another interesting reason why he considers Djokovic as his idol.

Flavio Cobolli on Novak Djokovic: ‘Always had Nole as my reference player’

Despite being only 22, Cobolli is making rapid strides on the ATP Tour. He has reached his career-best ranking of 30 and has had good performances of late. Earlier this year, Djokovic won his maiden Olympic gold medal and the Italian star was thrilled with his idol’s stunning victory despite having a poor season. This is what made him special, according to Cobolli.

He explained why Djokovic is his idol, saying, “It’s something I often say to myself. I always had Nole as my reference player, and I try to emulate him there too. It’s not only his technique that I like, I love his mentality. I also try to take a cue from these little things, from what he says at the conference. Since he explained how he positively transformed the audience’s support for his opponent, I applied this method, repeated it several times and I have to say that it works.”

Meanwhile, Djokovic also had a tough second-round victory in Shanghai. He took down Alex Michelsen after saving set points to win 7-6 (3), 7-6 (9). With both Djokovic and Cobolli coming off after tough victories, it will be interesting to see how they fare in their battle against each other.