‘Different atmosphere’ in French Open locker room after Sinner and Djokovic exits
Flavio Cobolli said there was a “different atmosphere” amongst the men’s singles players following the surprise exits of Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.
With Sinner, Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev out, there will be a new Grand Slam winner in this year’s tournament and many are hoping they make the most of the opportunity presented to them.
After defeating Learner Tien in the third round, Flavio Cobolli spoke of the feeling amongst the players and the ‘different atmosphere’ in the locker room.
“There’s a different atmosphere, especially since the two strongest players are no longer here, and now Novak isn’t either,” he said.
“When you walk through the locker room, you can tell that an opportunity has opened up for everyone, and everyone wants to take advantage of it. We’re all ready to fight for every point and try to get something important out of this tournament.”
Cobolli’s best performance in a Grand Slam is the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2025 and he has already surpassed his best in Paris.
The defeat of Tien was his first win on a centre court at a Grand Slam.
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“I’m really happy with my performance, of course,” he said. “It’s also my first win on Centre Court at a Grand Slam, so it means a lot for sure. Now it’s time to recover a bit, and I’m already thinking about the next match, which is really important for me.
“I think I also played well because perhaps my opponent was a little tired from the effort of the last few days, and that maybe helped me today to reach the next round.”
“I want to take it match by match, that’s the way I want to think this week. I know there are many possibilities to have a new Grand Slam champion. But I don’t want to think about this. I have another tough match.”
That next opponent is Zachary Svajda and Cobolli recalls them playing together two years ago.
“He’s from my generation,” the 23-year-old said. “We played two years ago in Delray Beach. We know each other well, we’ve practised a couple of times, so I’ll probably have to study him even more because I’ve never played against him on clay and I haven’t seen him play on this surface either.”
“It’s probably not the surface that suits him best either, but after winning these matches I think he’s coming in with good feelings, especially on these courts. So I’ll have to pay close attention to this match as well.”
