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Wimbledon 2025: Sinner spearheads historic Italian trio

Three Italian men have booked a second week ticket at Wimbledon for the first time ever at SW19.

Jannik Sinner & Lorenzo Sonego / Premier tour, double messieurs, Monte-Carlo 2024©Corinne Dubreuil / FFT
 - Alex Sharp

The traditional green and purple of Wimbledon has mixed with plenty of green, white and red from the Italian flag in recent years.

Four years ago, Matteo Berrettini became the first man from his nation to reach a Wimbledon singles final, last summer Lorenzo Musetti made a major breakthrough into the semi-finals, whilst Jasmine Paolini created another ‘first,’ eventually finishing as runner-up at Wimbledon 2024.

The Italian express continues to gain serious momentum at SW19. Their talisman Jannik Sinner continues to hunt down a maiden Wimbledon crown and is joined in the Last 16 by compatriots Flavio Cobolli and Lorenzo Sonego. Three Italian men in the fourth round at The All England Club, it’s never happened before.

Sinner striking after Parisian heartbreak 

Last month, world No.1 Jannik Sinner felt the devastation of letting slip the Roland-Garros title, despite holding three match points over Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner, who lost in his second Halle match in the build-up to Wimbledon versus the mercurial Alexander Bublik, appears to be a man on a mission to succeed at SW19.

The 23-year-old has emphatically swatted aside another countryman (there were 11 Italians in the men’s singles draw) Luca Nardi, Aleksandar Vukic and Pedro Martinez to the loss of just 17 games – equalling the Open Era record at this stage of The Championships by Jan Kodes in 1972. He’s faced eight break points, all eight have been erased. ‘The Fox’ has been simply sensational, simply ruthless.

Sinner, a Wimbledon 2023 semi-finalist, takes on No.19 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the Last 16 on Monday, driven by the modern-day classic against Alcaraz on Court Philippe-Chatrier in early June.

“For sure last month was not easy at times. But in the other way, it was beautiful. Never thought that I would play a final of a Grand Slam like this,” mused Sinner.

“So all positive things, to be honest. Now, I'm here to show also myself that I'm capable to play tennis also on grass. I felt like that I have improved a lot on this surface. I feel good mentally and physically… let's see what I can do this year.”

Joy the key for Cobolli

On Sunday at The All England Club, Sinner practised with his Davis Cup teammate Flavio Cobolli.

The No.22 has similarly blazed through the draw, winning all nine sets so far. The commanding 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 passage past world No.17 Jakub Mensik launched Cobolli into a maiden major fourth round.

“It’s something that I dream about a lot, since when I started to play tennis. Especially here, it’s fantastic to reach the fourth round here,” said Cobolli, taking on 2017 finalist Marin Cilic on Monday.

“I think I played one of the best match ever of my life (against Mensik). I think almost perfect. I'm really happy to play on this surface because it make me happy.

“Three years ago I completely hate the grass when I play junior because with my tennis, we started on clay in Italy. I can try different things on grass, that makes me happy.

“I started the year very bad, and won big (titles) victories in Bucharest or in Hamburg changed something, the belief in my stomach, it changed a lot.

“I try to do the right things to be better in the court and outside the court with my team. I think this is the key to be a great player.”

Playing with a swagger, plenty of success in the season, Cobolli has the Elite 8 in sight.

Sonego goes the distance

The third Italian man in the mix has a real a real spring in his step, cracking his trademark smile.

World No.47 Lorenzo Sonego caused an electrifying atmosphere as he edged Brandon Nakashima 6-7(7), 7-6(8), 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(3) in a five-hour, four-minute clash in the third round.

The longest match of Wimbledon 2025 so far was hailed as “fantastic” by his coach Fabio Colangelo, who has been instilling controlled aggression into Sonego’s play since they joined forces in April 2024.

“I'm very proud of him” Colangelo told wimbledon.com. “When I saw him playing here on grass (2024), I said 'listen for me can be the best surface for you.’ He’s put in the work, I'm happy to see that the results are coming.”

Colangelo is an Italian former professional player himself and is beaming with pride reflecting on the trio of his compatriots in the Last 32.

“It's unbelievable,” added Colangelo. “They are inspiring each other. Now we have the best player in the world. He's inspiring everybody, especially in Italy, because they know each other really well, they're friends, Jannik is another unbelievable guy as I know him since last year. Very humble, he’s a really nice guy.

“When you see a friend that is doing good, you see think ‘Okay, I can do it too.’

“It's amazing to see this in Italy. You go in any kind of shop and on the radio, that they talk about tennis. Before it was only football in Italy. Now they talk about politics and whatever and then Sinner is playing Wimbledon, Lorenzo Musetti is into the quarterfinals in Roland-Garros. Sometimes you are drinking a coffee in a bar and you hear from the table behind. 'What time is playing Sinner tonight?' And for me it's amazing.”

Sonego takes on American firepower in the muscular shape of Ben Shelton on Monday, hoping to gain revenge for thrilling Australian Open and Roland-Garros defeats earlier this campaign.

Should Sonego, a quarter-finalist in Melbourne, manage to overcome Shelton, his reward could be a shot at Sinner.

“Let's start with Shelton, but the quarter-finals against Jannik, I think could be a dream for Lorenzo of course,” suggested Colangelo. “And I think for Italy also. Let’s see.”