Flavio Cobolli jokes after losing final: "C'was my girlfriend…"

Flavio Cobolli was defeated in the final of the ATP 500 in Munich.

After a brilliant victory the previous day against Alexander Zverev (world number 3), the Azzurro surrendered to the American Ben Shelton on the Bavarian clay with a score of 6-2, 7-5. Thus fades the chance to win his second title of the season, after his triumph at the ATP 500 in Acapulco a couple of months ago.

In spite of the defeat, the Roman from tomorrow will return to No. 13 in the ATP ranking, equaling his best ranking. To rise to the 12th position he would have to win the German tournament and hope for a misstep by Russian Andrey Rublev in the Barcelona final. The season will now continue with the Masters 1000 in Madrid, followed by the Internazionali d’Italia and Roland Garros.

At the awards ceremony, Cobolli commented on his week this way, “It was incredible. We experienced it together, even following Bayern Munich’s feat in the Champions League (laughs, ed.). Shelton, congratulations to you and your team: you are a great friend. I wish you the best for the rest of the season and hope to see you again soon. I really enjoyed this tournament and I will definitely be back.”

“Thanks to the audience, it is always nice to play here. Thanks also to my team. Yesterday I called my girlfriend, who is here: maybe, after the defeat, it was better if she had stayed at home (laughs, ed.),” he concluded with a joke.