Flavio Cobolli’s girlfriend has very different life as Wimbledon star | Tennis | Sport
Flavio Cobolli met his girlfriend when they were teenagers (Image: Getty)
Arthur Fery’s Wimbledon quarter-final opponent Flavio Cobolli has been in a relationship with long-term girlfriend Matilde Galli since he was a teenager, long before his rise up the ATP rankings. The Italian, 24, is out to end the hopes of home favourite Fery and reach his first semi-final at SW19 after losing to Novak Djokovic in the quarters last year. Galli will be willing him to win and move closer to a second career Grand Slam final after losing to Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros in June.
The couple met at a birthday party for a friend of Cobolli, where Galli showed up with the friend’s sister. “I knew her when I was no one,” the World No.10 told ATPTour.com in April. “I was outside of this Tour, and I grew up completely here. I met her when I was 18, I was one-thousand-and-something in the world, and we’re still together. So I think we found something that, of course, is working.”
While some other Wimbledon stars are in relationships with tennis players or other athletes, Cobolli’s other half has pursued a very different career path. Matilde is aiming to become a sanitary director at a hospital, something which requires an academic background and some tough exams.
“My best dream is watching her happy in what she does,” the tennis star said in the same ATP interview. “Your family is very important because we spend our time really well, we do many things that we normally cannot do. So my dream is to have more time with her and to see her happy in whatever she does.
“When she’s nervous [studying for an exam], I try to be kind to her and help make her life easier. But it’s not easy when you’re always on the Tour, and you have pressure everywhere and have another pressure at home. It’s not easy. But I think we are doing well. We have a great relationship.”
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Cobolli has a chance to make his first Wimbledon semi-final (Image: Instagram)
Galli’s studies mean she hasn’t always been able to watch her partner in action, though she always tries to watch his matches on TV at the very least.. And Cobolli – who hopes the couple stay together for the rest of their lives – hopes things will soon change.
“I love her a lot, and I think she also loves me,” the footballer-turned-tennis star said. “We are very young, but we already have a great experience with ourselves and our lives to say that she’s the one that I want to have for all my life.
“It is tough because we don’t see each other a lot during the year because she’s studying and I do this life [as a tennis player]. It’s tough because you always want to see her during the year, but it’s not possible. And we always try to find a way to be together [even when we are apart].”
Arthur Fery is next up for Cobolli at Wimbledon (Image: Getty)
Cobolli’s run to the last eight has seen him eliminate one half of a famed tennis power couple. He needed just three sets to knock out Alex de Minaur in the fourth round, with De Minaur’s fiancee and former British No.1 Katie Boulter donning an England football shirt as she watched from the stands.
After his 7-5, 7-6, 6-3 win, the 24-year-old admitted he wasn’t sure if he had somewhere to stay for the remainder of the Championships. However, things were resolved later that day.
“My grandfather help us to found a solution for tonight. But we found solution for all the week, I hope,” he said with a smile.
“An Italian family gave us [a] house here in Wimbledon, so it’s really cool. I will say thanks to them when I see them.”
