PARIS — Having spent a large part of the night vomiting and deprived of sleep, Matteo Arnaldi was in no shape to fight for a spot in the French Open final.
The 104th-ranked Arnaldi withdrew before the first all-Italian men's Grand Slam semifinal against Flavio Cobolli on Friday at Roland Garros.
Arnaldi believed he caught a virus and said he could not play competitive tennis.
“I think it’s a virus because I was feeling pretty cold,” he said. “I had a fever. I just know that I can’t move, and I can’t eat, and I can’t drink.”
His withdrawal handed Cobolli a place in Sunday's final against second-seeded Alexander Zverev.
Arnaldi said he felt fine during practice on Thursday, until he had dinner.
“I started to feel so-so with my stomach,” he told a press conference also attended by Cobolli, who sat at the other end of the interview desk.
“I was, like, ‘All right, just didn’t digest very well.’ But then I woke up at 1 a.m. and I started vomiting. Then I tried to sleep. I couldn’t sleep at all. At 6, 7 a.m. I vomited again. This time was pretty bad.”
He summoned a doctor to his room and took medicine.
“I was hoping that it would just be something from dinner or something like that, but then throughout the day I couldn’t eat," Arnaldi said. "Every time we did something or would drink, I would go back to the bathroom."
He reached the semifinals after countryman Matteo Berrettini retired in their quarterfinal due to a hip injury before the end of the second set. Arnaldi spent a total of 19 hours, 42 minutes on court, more than any other player has taken to make the semifinals at any major tournament since the ATP Tour began recording match times in 1991.
“It’s tough, because for how the tournament was, for how many hours I spent on court, I was feeling actually very good,” Arnaldi said.
“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."
Cobolli said he was saddened by the news.
“When he came to me almost one hour ago, I almost cried,” he said. “Matteo is a big inspiration for all of us.”
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