"He poked the bear" - Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs gives verdict on Ben Shelton's controversial Canadian Open exchange with Flavio Cobolli

Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs analyzed the heated exchange between Ben Shelton and Flavio Cobolli during their Round-of-16 clash at the 2025 National Bank Open. The three-set thriller, played on Sunday, August 3, ended with Shelton securing his 100th tour-level win.

In the decider, Cobolli served for the match at 5-4. However, fourth-seed Shelton persevered and leveled the scores. The Italian saved a match point in the 12th game to force a tie-break before the World No. 7 completed a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(1) win to reach the quarterfinals.

As observed by Stubbs, after Shelton hit a winner during the tie-break, Cobolli suggested through his gesture that the American was lucky on the particular occasion. Shelton, who noticed this, was furious at the 13th seed and confronted him at the net after the match. Their altercation continued even as Cobolli was ready to leave the court with his bag.

In three tweets, Rennae Stubbs described the entire incident and shared her thoughts. She wrote:

"I watched the Shelton v Cobolli match incident. Ben was upset at Cobolli making a gesture when Ben hit that winner forehand 1st pt of the TB & Cobolli gestured that he got lucky, re kinda closed his eyes & hit it. It’s a normal gesture in tennis when u want to say 'so lucky.'"

Stubbs opined that Flavio Cobolli's gesture triggered Ben Shelton, who raised his level in the tie-break.

"Ben took offense to it. Cause watch his reaction after he hit a huge FH at 2-0 up. Cobolli i believe realized it wasn’t cool later as well & tried to smooth it over cause it pissed Ben off & he played with anger & focus after that in the TB. In other words Cobolli poked the bear," she added.

The 54-year-old Australian said the players could not be blamed for their reactions in the heat of the moment, given the high intensity of the match.

"They’re friends & Ben & Flavio should have taken that conversation off the court, but in the heat of the moment after 3 hrs & it being such a good match i can understand. They’ll move on & so should we. Well played guys," Stubbs concluded.

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"There's no story, we're good" - Ben Shelton refuses to talk about his confrontation with Flavio Cobolli

Flavio Cobolli and Ben Shelton at the 2025 Canadian Open

Ben Shelton and Flavio Cobolli had a lengthy discussion after their fourth-round Canadian Open match on Sunday. However, the American decided not to entertain questions about their altercation, saying they had sorted out the issue.

"Yeah, we talked about it. He said it wasn't towards me. We're good. We talked about it in the locker room, so I'm not going to answer any more questions about that. There's no story, we're good, that's it, so, thanks," Shelton said at the post-match press conference.

After getting a first-round bye, Ben Shelton beat Adrian Mannarino in straight sets and compatriot Brandon Nakashima 6-7(8), 6-2, 7-6(5) before defeating Cobolli.

He will square off against ninth-seed Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, August 5. This will be the first tour match between the two.

Edited by Anisha Chatterjee