The 2025 French Open has delivered one of its most shocking early upsets, and a historic underdog story to match: world No. 1 Jannik Sinner crashed out in the second round, and 2024 semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti missed the tournament entirely due to injury. Yet against all expectations, Italian men’s tennis has not just survived this early blow—it has thrived, marking an unprecedented milestone by placing three players in the tournament’s quarterfinals for the first time in Grand Slam history.
The Italian contingent’s run already guarantees at least one Italian man in the French Open semifinals: Matteo Berrettini, the trailblazer of the country’s modern tennis boom, will face fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi in Wednesday’s primetime night clash. In the other quarterfinal from the same half of the draw, 24-year-old breakout star Flavio Cobolli will go up against Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime for a spot in the final four. Beyond singles, Italian tennis is well represented across other draws too: coinciding with Italy’s National Day on Tuesday, Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori competed in the men’s doubles quarterfinals, while Sara Errani and Vavassori will battle for a spot in the mixed doubles title match on Wednesday.
For Cobolli, the run to the last eight is already a career-making breakthrough. Entering this tournament, the world No. 14 had never claimed a win on a Grand Slam center court, but he dismissed American youngster Learner Tien in straight sets in the third round to extend his run. That big-match poise, Cobolli says, comes from high-stakes experience earned last November, when he clinched the decisive match point to secure Italy’s third consecutive Davis Cup title on home soil in Bologna.
“The Davis Cup helped me handle the pressure in matches where there’s a lot on the line,” Cobolli explained.
That depth of Italian tennis talent has not gone unnoticed by observers, including former 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang, who now coaches Tien. “It just goes to show you that Italian tennis is tough,” Chang said. “To be able to win the Davis Cup even when Jannik’s not playing, the depth is very great there.” Chang, who has witnessed the grassroots growth of Italian tennis first-hand during the annual Italian Open in Rome, added that courts surrounding the iconic Foro Italico are packed with players of all ages, a clear sign of a sustained domestic tennis boom.
Few know the underdog journey of this current Italian cohort better than Cobolli himself. Before committing fully to tennis, the 24-year-old was a promising youth soccer player in AS Roma’s academy, counting current Arsenal star Riccardo Calafiori, Watford’s Edoardo Bove, Atalanta’s Nicola Zalewski, and Lazio’s Matteo Cancellieri among his former teammates. He still keeps in close touch with the group, and even skipped a pre-tournament rest night to watch Roma’s final Serie A match of the season at a local Roma supporters’ club in Paris ahead of his opening Roland Garros clash. A product of Rome’s Tennis Club Parioli—the same club that produced 1976 French Open champion Adriano Panatta—Cobolli is in line for a career-high jump if he claims the title: a Paris trophy would lift him as high as world No. 5. Panatta, who is invited to present the men’s singles trophy this weekend to mark the 50th anniversary of his historic 1975 win, would be on hand to hand the trophy to one of his own club’s graduates if Cobolli reaches the finish line.
For Berrettini, this quarterfinal run comes after years of struggle and a period of deep reflection that reignited his love for the game. The first Italian man to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Panatta when he made the 2021 Wimbledon final, Berrettini—nicknamed “The Hammer” for his blistering serve—has been plagued by a string of debilitating injuries over the past five years. After his 2021 run in Paris, he did not even compete at the French Open again until this year, and entered the 2025 tournament ranked just No. 105 in the world after a run of poor results.
A surprise loss in the second round of a lower-tier Challenger event in Valencia, Spain just before the French Open led Berrettini to take a step back and reevaluate his priorities. “I looked at people coming out of offices and parents bringing their kids home from school and I thought to myself, ‘There’s a world beyond tennis,’” Berrettini said. “Sometimes it takes some perspective. People like Sinner who win all the time are just very unique. The rest of us need some losses now and then to rediscover the necessary energy. If everything went well all the time then I would be No. 1.” That reset has paid off in Paris, sending the veteran into his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in years.
The third Italian quarterfinalist, Arnaldi, has delivered one of the most grueling runs in French Open history to reach this stage. Ranked No. 104 entering the tournament, the 24-year-old has already played 18 sets across four matches, winning back-to-back five-set thrillers to reach the last eight. His total on-court time to reach the quarterfinals stands at 17 hours and 42 minutes—shattering the previous French Open record of 15 hours 44 minutes set by Nicklas Kulti all the way back in 1992.
Like his compatriots, Arnaldi’s run comes after a period of struggle: he reached a career-high ranking of No. 30 in 2024 before a right foot injury derailed his form, and he lost eight of his first 10 matches at the start of this season. But a breakout run on clay in Cagliari’s Challenger event, where he won seven straight matches including four deciding-set victories, got his season back on track and rebuilt his confidence ahead of the clay court swing.
“In Cagliari I started to rediscover my confidence,” Arnaldi said, “and that’s what has made the difference.”
As Wednesday’s all-Italian quarterfinal clash approaches, the entire cohort is unified in what this milestone means for their country’s tennis program. “It’s just good for Italian tennis,” Berrettini said, a sentiment echoed by fans and observers alike across the sport.