In the third round of the 2024 Shanghai Masters, Novak Djokovic will face Flavio Cobolli, a promising 22-year-old player who has been improving every year. The Italian has defeated Stan Wawrinka, one of the most historic tennis players of recent years, in his debut in the tournament. It seemed like a simple match, but there is something that unites both of them that few people know.
Cobolli’s father, Stefano, was also a tennis player. He did not have a great career, his best position in the ATP Rankings was 236th. Now he is dedicated to training his son. The curious thing comes because in 2003, Stefano Cobolli faced Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals of a Challenger in Brindisi. He beat him 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, coming back in the match, like Flavio in Shanghai, and with the same result in the third and final set.
But the story doesn’t end there. And the best tournament that Stefano Cobolli ever played on the ATP Tour was in Umag (where Carlos Alcaraz won his first ATP title at just 18 years and 2 months old), when he reached the second round. There he was defeated in three sets by Magnus Norman. And you may wonder who Magnus Norman is. Well, he is Stan Wawrinka’s coach.
He led him to win his three Grand Slam titles (Australian Open 2014, Roland Garros 2015 and US Open 2016), to number 3 in the world and to display the best tennis the Swiss has ever played. It was also there for the final of the French Open in 2017 and for the 2014 Monte Carlo Masters 1000, the only trophy that Wawrinka has in his cabinets in this category.
After a 2-year separation, Stan the Man once again had Norman on his bench starting in 2022. With him, he returned to the Top 50 after great difficulties and played in an ATP final again, almost four years after the previous one. , curiously in Umag, in 2023. Previously, the Swede trained his compatriot Robin Soderling in 2009 and 2010, the two best years of his career and in which he reached the final of Roland Garros, losing to Roger Federer, in his only title in Paris, and Rafael Nadal, wanting revenge for what happened the previous year and in one of his 14 trophies in the French capital, respectively.
