In recent times, the most prominent Italian understudy to World No. 1 Jannik Sinner has been Lorenzo Musetti.

He has made the quarterfinals or better at all four Slams, been in the ATP top-10 for a good part of the last 14 months, and even climbed up to a career-high ranking of No. 5 ahead of the Australian Open earlier this year.

Over the past few months, however, Flavio Cobolli has usurped that understudy spot. Ranked outside the top-20 at the start of the season, the 24-year-old broke into the top-10 on the back of a stirring run to the recent French Open final.

On Monday, with a straight-sets victory over fifth seed Alex de Minaur, he made his second straight Wimbledon quarterfinal. He will meet British wild card Arthur Fery, who ended Grigor Dimitrov’s stay by clinching a nerve-wracking five-setter.

“I played one of my best matches ever, especially on this surface, which is always tough,” said Cobolli. “I found a way to a high level for the whole match and it was really impressive,” added the World No. 10.

Encouragingly, the wholesome performance came after quite a few back-to-the-wall efforts. Cobolli recovered from a first set bagel (6-0) to scrape through in five sets against the big-serving Karen Khachanov in the previous round; of the 12 sets he has won, six have been tense tie-breaks.

What should also hold him in good stead is his powerful game. Cobolli belongs to the group of players who literally bludgeon the ball, with Joao Fonseca, Jakub Mensik and Tomas Machac the other prominent members. When combined with a capable serve, it can prove devastating.

Movement and foot dexterity are allies too. After all, Cobolli spent five years at the famed football academy of AS Roma before switching full-time to the racquet sport. Recently in Paris, he did an entire lap of Court Philippe-Chatrier while juggling a tennis ball.

After the win against de Minaur, much to the delight of the Court No. 1 audience, he even re-created Cristiano Ronaldo’s famed mid-air twirl celebration.

The skills are there. The crowd has been charmed. Will silverware follow?

Top tennis players at Wimbledon will extend their protest over prize money by limiting their media appearances at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament next week.

The decision means the players will only talk to media for 15 minutes after each match during the first week of the tournament.

The protest began at this year’s French Open where players complained that the total prize money only made up 14.3% of the clay-court tournament’s revenue.

Wimbledon responded by hiking its total prize money by 20% this year — with the singles champions to get 3.6 million pounds ($4.75 million) each.

However, a statement put out Wednesday by an advisory firm representing the players said the “direct action protest” will continue during the first week at the All England Club.

“Players will limit their contractual media commitments at the tournament to 15 minutes — reflecting that Wimbledon currently pays slightly below 15% of revenues to players as prize money — for the duration of the first week of the Championships,” the statement said. “Following detailed consultation with players across both tours, player representatives have written to Wimbledon’s leadership to inform them of the planned action, while acknowledging the welcome recent 20% increase in prize money compared to last year’s Championships.”

The statement said the the players’ share of Wimbledon’s projected revenues this year is 14.4%, which would be below the 14.9% share they received 10 years ago.

The players had written a proposal last year asking for 16% of revenues.

The statement did not specify which players would take part in the protest.

At the French Open, No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek were among the top-10 ranked women who limited their media appearances, as did men’s No. 1 Jannik Sinner. However, Novak Djokovic did not take part in the protest.

In announcing Wimbledon’s 20% increase in prize money two weeks ago, All England Club chair Deborah Jevans said she hoped it would satisfy the players.

“We’ve demonstrated that we’ve looked at every round, including qualifying,” Ms. Jevans said at the time. “My hope is that the players do recognize what a significant increase that this is.”