Three players in the quarter-finals, two in the semi-finals, one certainly in Sunday’s final of the men’s draw Roland Garros. Since we don’t want to miss anything, today Vavassori-Bolelli challenge the world number one to access the final act of the doubles, while Vavassori, with Sara Errani, has already secured the pass for the mixed final.

All this goodness with Sinner and Musetti in the pits

And all this goodness without His Excellency Jannik Sinner, who stumbled at the start, and His Elegance Lorenzo Musetti, the man on the run in the ATP rankings and the player who last season had painted sublime tennis on clay, always reaching the bottom in Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and Paris.

In short, in the world tennis rhymes with Italy and more than ever with Roland Garros, the major which historically (before Sinner’s arrival) had always smiled on our colors and which more than any other tells us who we are. From the three men’s titles (Pietrangeli ’59 and ’60, Panatta ’76) to Francesca Schiavone’s triumph in 2010, then a success in the men’s doubles (Pietrangeli–Sirola in ’59), one in the women’s (Errani-Vinci 2012) and two in the mixed (Pietrangeli-Bloomer in ’58 and Vavassori-Errani in 2025). And then the finals of Schiavone 2011, Errani 2012, Paolini 2024, up to the Sinner race in 2025. Without forgetting the collective record of 2024, with four Italians in the semi-finals in the various draws, and that of this year, with the three Italians together in the quarterfinals. In addition to Musetti’s Olympic bronze won on Philippe Chatrier.

It is a common thread that runs through decades, generations, gaming styles and destinies. And every time an Italian reaches the end, it is never just a result. Because on the red earth we have written the brightest pages of our history and because every Italian generation, sooner or later, has found its mirror there.

Cobolli towards the ATP Finals in Turin

On the 40th birthday of the owner of these fields, Flavio Cobolli reached his first slam semifinal with the authority of the greatest. Auger-Aliassime was the highest seed left in the running after Zverev. The blue got rid of it with authority, despite a first set that slipped away despite having had more than one opportunity to bring it to his side.

What a rise for this boy born in 2002 who fate seemed to push him to wear the yellow and red in Serie A and who is now one step away from the top ten on the tennis planet. When Nadal won his 14th Roland Garros, Flavio was number 157 in the world. In four years it has never stopped growing. With sudden upward shots or through small steps, but under the wise and clear guidance of his father Stefano he always managed to add something significant to his tennis. Concrete objectives – ambitious because the stuff Flavio is made of is the finest – but without flying too high with your imagination.

In doing so Cobolli jr. he is becoming an increasingly complete player. Fourth at Wimbledon in 2025 making Djokovic tremble, semifinal as favorite this year at Roland Garros. The best thing, for him, for the team and for us who follow him, is that Flavio still has enormous margins. He moves on the court like few others in the world, he has a natural timing on both sides, a serve that has grown exponentially which simplifies his life in the moments that count – the ones that really made the difference against Auger-Aliassime – and above all a player’s mentality for which the top ten is not the goal of life, but the point from which to start building.

Adriano Panatta, awarding Sinner in Rome, had launched a joke that smacked of destiny: “See you in Paris too”. By a curious game of tennis and life, on Sunday Panatta will certainly find an Italian on that court (as well as one between Zverev and Mensik) but it won’t be Jannik. A Roman who wins Roland Garros… does that mean anything to you?

Arnaldi super, Berrettini bitter

Matteo Arnaldi had lost in the first round in 19 tournaments in the last 18 months. Matteo Berrettini had not won at least four consecutive matches on the circuit since July 2024 and at Slam level since the US Open 2022. They were the quarter-finals of the “rebirth” and both were sailing outside the top 100 before the Parisian major: Arnaldi number 104, Berrettini 105.

Arnaldi, born in 2001, suffered a fracture of the medial sesamoid of his right foot in 2025. He was limping, let alone being on the court for hours and hours in five-set battles in the hardest slam. The change of coach in the spring (Fabio Colangelo, already in Sonego’s corner) coincided with the absence of pain and from that moment the most elastic tennis player after Djokovic started again. Victory in the Challenger 175 in Cagliari, third round at the Internazionali d’Italia also beating the top ten De Minaur and now the semi-finals at Roland Garros reached after 19 hours and 43 minutes spent on the pitch to defeat top-level opponents such as Griekspoor, Tsitsipas, Collignon, Tiafoe and Berrettini.

Now the semi-final as an “underdog” against Flavio Cobolli, companion of many battles from the junior categories up to the major circuit. Arnaldi was never predestined, yet at 25 he is two matches away from winning a Grand Slam tournament. It’s scary, isn’t it?

Berrettini’s injuries

Matteo Berrettini’s list of injuries is too long even for an online newspaper. The career of the Italian tennis player who, before Sinner, had gone knocking on the door of the greatest, has been a continuous melee with his physique: abdominals, ankle, back, hand, even Covid at Wimbledon. A sequence of stops that would have broken anyone, but which he transformed into a new beginning every time. Always struggling a little more to re-emerge – as is normal – tormented by doubts and fears to the point that the train of big events seemed to no longer want to admit him among its passengers.

It’s a shame, because Berrettini had certainly demonstrated that he knew how to stay up there. He had played two great Slam semi-finals against the real Nadal (US Open 2019 and Australian Open 2022) and had won the first set against Djokovic the Cannibal in the 2021 Wimbledon final. In short, he was at the top when two of the Big Three still dictated the law, intact and ravenous.

The breakthrough in the Davis Cup in 2024 seemed like the last blow of the great player he had been. 2025 had given him too little to truly restore his smile. But Matteo possesses a special quality, typical of champions, even more decisive than his devastating serve-forehand combination: the mentality of a great player. Berrettini knows how to fight and knows how to raise the level when the match gets complicated. When the majority of tennis players tremble and choose the conservative play, he lets go of his arm, because he is not afraid of winning.

At Roland Garros 2026 we saw that Matteo again. This is why yet another injury hurt us so much: a Berrettini in the final stages of a Slam would have been very difficult for anyone to beat.