Flavio Cobolli, what’s going on? Another wake-up call

Despite being ranked seventh in the ATP rankings and fifth in the Race, Flavio Cobolli is going through a rough patch from which he has yet to emerge: In fact, for the second consecutive time, the Roman failed to get past the first round of an ATP tournament, being eliminated in Shanghai by France’s Adrian Mannarino following his loss in Beijing to Russia’s Roman Safiullin.

In his second-round match at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, Cobolli (who had received a bye to skip the first round) endured a nightmare first set, got the match back on track in the second set, but paid the price for his effort in the third: 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 was the final score in favor of Mannarino, who in the previous round had defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili after the latter retired during the second set.

For Cobolli, the loss in Shanghai marks his fourth consecutive singles defeat. Before his trip to China, the Italian had in fact been defeated by Learner Tien at the Laver Cup, a tournament played after his third-round elimination from the US Open at the hands of Belgian Alexander Blockx. This season, Cobolli had also been eliminated in the first round in Hamburg, Halle, Umag, and Montreal.

Qualification for the ATP Finals, despite the recent difficulties, does not appear to be in question, but yet another early exit calls for some reflection on the part of the Roman, who this year won the ATP 500 in Acapulco, came close to a major upset at Roland Garros (where he lost in the final to Alexander Zverev) and performed well at Wimbledon (where he reached the quarterfinals), but has often shown dips in performance that are difficult to explain.

With Jannik Sinner out of the picture due to his decision to postpone his return until 2027, the focus of Italian tennis has inevitably shifted to Cobolli. For this very reason, the end of the season—including the Paris Masters 1000, the ATP Finals, and the Davis Cup—will carry even greater weight in the assessment of his 2026 season.