Meet Flavio Cobolli, footballer turned tennis star now in French Open semis

Two Italians will play each other in the French Open semi-finals today and they are neither world No 1 Jannik Sinner, nor No 11 Lorenzo Musetti.

Instead, it will be footballer turned tennis player Flavio Cobolli against his childhood friend Matteo Arnaldi in what will be their first Grand Slam semi-final appearances. And no matter the result of that match, Cobolli will enter the top 10 for the first time next week.|

It says a lot about the 24-year-old’s sporting abilities that he almost did not pick up a racquet in the early part of his life. The current world No 14 was a talented footballer and a member of Roma's youth club until he decided to focus full-time on tennis. He was invited to join the Paris Saint-Germain players when they brought the Champions League trophy onto the tennis court earlier in the week.

It's been exactly 50 years since an Italian man won the French Open and 1976 champion Adriano Panatta was asked before the tournament to present the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy this year.

"We have to be happy for Italian tennis," Cobolli said.

Cobolli comes from the same tennis club in Rome as Panatta, the Tennis Club Parioli.

Arnaldi said he first played Cobolli in the Italian under-14 championship: "We are good friends."

Cobolli said this was "the best week of my life." Having dropped just two sets in five matches, he acknowledges that he's superstitious, doing the same routine after every match.

"This week I'm a little bit more crazy," he said, "I just go same restaurant, same menu, same shower."

The shower he's referring to in the French Open locker room was the one that record 14-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal used to use.

Cobolli once stepped into the shower and Nadal showed up and told him to get moving.

"He told me that it was his shower since 14 years," Cobolli said with a laugh.

This week, Cobolli might just begin to make it his own.