"Glavio" Cobolli?

The Italian had already been affected by stomach pains at the Australian Open. Can his defeat against Nardi last week be explained by these same troubles?

So, listen, I’ve looked a bit into the reasons behind such a heavy defeat for Cobolli against Nardi in Montpellier, and I haven’t found anything “abnormal,” so to speak. He doesn’t like playing Nardi, that’s for sure, but he also seemed a bit unmotivated. He already pulled the same thing on us last season. This guy needs to feel happy on court, and it really looks like he’s not in a good phase right now. Since his match in Montpellier on January 5, he took a plane to Dallas to play his first match on February 10, with a 6-hour time difference. He made that same choice in 2024, with good results in February, then opted for the Europe / Middle East swing in 2025, with very poor results. He’s going to look for motivation where he thinks he’ll feel best. I don’t think we’ll see a very good version of Cobolli, but rather a Cobolli who’s searching for motivation. Deep down, isn’t he just waiting patiently for the clay season? As world No. 20, the two upcoming Masters 1000 are very important for him. My logic tells me no, but my feeling is that all this is still annoying him a bit at the moment...

The thing is, he has the “luck” of facing a qualifier in the form of Pinnington Jones. The latter had a very tough match in the final round of qualifying against Kypson, and I really didn’t think he was going to pull through. At 22 years old, the Brit, ranked 181st in the world before the tournament, has incredible grit. But in terms of level of play, you can kind of see why he’s outside the top 100. He’s got a fairly complete profile, and so if Cobolli is motivated, I don’t see how the Italian can lose. The not-very-high bounce and the fast conditions don’t really suit him, sure. On the other hand, I notice he’s entered in doubles with his buddy Fokina, and that, to me, is a little sign that he’s at least trying to find some motivation...