Matteo Arnaldi has withdrawn from his Roland Garros semi-final with Flavio Cobolli due to a viral illness.
It was set to be a historic all-Italian semi-final but had the result nobody wanted not even Cobolli as Arnaldi withdrew from the match.
The announcement was made 20 minutes before the match was due to take place as Arnaldi had withdrawn due to illness cause by previous night’s dinner.
Speaking in a joint press conference with Cobolli, Arnaldi detailed what caused the illness, “Yeah, where to start? It’s difficult to be here. It’s not what I wanted to do, but last night I started to feel not very well,” Arnaldi acknowledged to journalists.
“Like, yesterday I was feeling okay. I came here to practice. I did everything I had to do, and I was feeling fine. Then I had dinner. I started to feel so-so with my stomach. I was, like, All right, just didn’t digest very well. But then I woke up at 1:00 a.m., and I started vomiting, and I wasn’t feeling the best. Then I tried to sleep. I couldn’t sleep at all. At 6:00, 7:00 a.m. I vomited again. This time was pretty bad. We called the doctor in the room. He came, gave me some stuff. I was hoping that it would just be something from dinner or something like that, but then throughout the day, I couldn’t eat. Every time we did something or would drink, I would go back to the bathroom.
“So, you know, it’s tough. It’s tough, because for how the tournament was, for how many hours I spent on court, I was feeling actually very good. To have to withdraw from the first slam semifinal is not something that you wish to anybody. I tried to get ready and tried to stay as much as I could here and tried to see if I could go on court, but every time I get up, I feel dizzy, and I don’t feel like the best. I’m pretty sure if I eat again, I’m not going to feel, like, good. That was the right decision for me to take.”
It’s disappointment for Arnaldi who battled his way through the draw but was unable to participate in the biggest match of his life so far, “I feel sorry for everyone that got the tickets and came, all the Italians that came to watch us. I feel happy for him that he’s going to play the final, but at the same time, sorry because we couldn’t play a match, you know, so it’s tough to be here.”
Arnaldi started the tournament at 104 in the world but will now climb 70 place to just outside the world’s top 30.
As a result of Arnaldi’s withdrawal, Cobolli is into his first Grand Slam final and will meet Alexander Zverev for the Roland Garros title on Sunday.
