Strategy with a sprinkle of superstition – a proven recipe for success on the tennis court. Look at the greats. Serena Williams’ socks and shoelaces, Andre Agassi’s underwear-less (yes, you read that right) run at the French Open in 1999, Rafael Nadal’s water bottle placements, and Roger Federer’s eight-ace warm-up all make the list of tennis’s most popular superstitions. Now, you can add Flavio Cobolli‘s Nadal-inspired pre-match ritual to the list.

Flavio Cobolli claims not to be superstitious, but he has been showering in the same shower as Rafael Nadal every day during the French Open. The Italian revealed his unusual pre-match ritual during his post-quarterfinal press conference on Wednesday, after defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to advance to his first Grand Slam semifinal.

“I’m a little bit [superstitious] but not crazy,” Cobolli said when asked if he had always been superstitious. “But this week I’m a little bit more crazy than the other weeks. I just go to the same restaurant, the same menu, the same shower. ” The shower, as it turns out, is not just any shower. It is the one in the Roland Garros locker room that Nadal used for the better part of two decades.

“I said on the first press [conference] that I used the same shower as Rafa because I had a memory with that shower that I tried to steal from him. He knocked on the door, and I had to hurry because he was waiting on me, and he told me that it was his shower for 14 years. ” Cobolli paused. “So, I think the best thing that I do is the shower.” The press room burst into laughter. A journalist muttered, “That’s a tough act to follow.”

Nadal himself was no stranger to superstitions. He used to place two water bottles next to each other in front of and to the left of his chair. He never sipped from the same bottle twice in a row. He had an explanation for it, too:

“I put my two bottles down at my feet, in front of my chair to my left, one neatly behind the other, diagonally aimed at the court. Some call it superstition, but it’s not. If it were superstition, why would I keep doing the same thing over and over whether I win or lose? It’s a way of placing myself in a match, ordering my surroundings to match the order I seek in my head.”

He was also particular about a few other things, such as pulling up his socks to the same height, avoiding stepping on the court lines, and taking cold showers 45 minutes before his matches.

It seems like a joke until one looks at the results. Nadal followed his rituals throughout his historic career, and by using the same shower as Nadal did, Cobolli has already made history.

At this year’s French Open, Cobolli has dropped only two sets in five matches. He is the tenth seed, and the only player seeded above him that remains is Alexander Zverev. That in and of itself is a remarkable feat, because the eliminated names include some of the heavyweights of the tennis world, like Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic.

“I said to myself to fight as I felt this would be the chance of my life, and I have to give everything in my matches, and today I did it,” he said. He will enter the top 10 of the rankings for the first time next week, regardless of what happens on Friday.

This superstition runs along with some cold, hard reality. Cobolli learned to play tennis at Rome’s Tennis Club Parioli, the same place where Adriano Panatta, the 1976 French Open champion, honed his skills. The last time an Italian man won the Coupe des Mousquetaires was exactly 50 years ago. The last winner, Panatta himself, was invited to present the trophy this year, to commemorate this 50-year-old achievement.

Italy’s biggest star, Jannik Sinner, is gone, but Italy’s moment has arrived with Flavio Cobolli

The story of the French Open was supposed to be Jannik Sinner. The world’s top player arrived in Paris on a 29-match winning streak, looking to complete his career Grand Slam. He had squandered three match points in last year’s final against Carlos Alcaraz and was the hot favorite in the Spaniard’s absence due to injury.

Sinner, however, was out in the second round, losing to Juan Manuel Cerundolo in a match marred by controversies. Italy’s biggest tennis star was on a plane home before the tournament reached the second week.

No one expected to see what happened next. World number 14 Flavio Cobolli and world number 104 Matteo Arnaldi both reached the last four. On Friday, they will meet against each other in the first all-Italian men’s Grand Slam semifinal ever. “We have to be happy for Italian tennis,” Cobolli said simply.

Rest assured, on the 50th anniversary of the last Italian winning the French Open, an Italian will play the final at the Roland Garros. It will not be the Italian everybody expected, but Italian tennis, without its star, has found a way to make sure the story is theirs anyway. Cobolli has Nadal’s shower, Panatta’s legacy, and hopefully a career-defining week of his life ahead of him. So does Matteo Arnaldi.