Latest / Bleacher Report / Matteo Arnaldi Withdraws From Semifinal vs. Flavio Cobolli Due to Illness _ Roland-Garros 2026

Transcript

Matteo Arnaldi Withdraws From Semifinal vs. Flavio Cobolli Due to Illness _ Roland-Garros 2026 · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is shocking news here at Roland Garros. Mateo Ornaldi
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: has withdrawn from the Roland Garros semifinals. We have not
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: seen this at a major semi finals in four years.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Twenty twenty two Wimbledon is when.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Rafa had to pull out.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Nikkurios made his way to the final to take on
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Novak Djokovic. We are going to be rounding up the reporters,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the announcers, everyone to make sense of this and again
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: in a few minutes we will hear a press conference
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: for more information as to what happened with Mateo Arnaldi.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: What we do know, Flavio Koboli.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: The twenty four year old will be making it to
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: his first major final to take on Sasha Zverev. It
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: will be two men that will be in the top ten,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: so it will be a solid final. But let's go
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: around the horn here, Andre Agassi, your reaction.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: To the news.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: I could have beat Arnaldi today at fifty six years old.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: If you don't show up, you can't win. And it's
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: just disappointing. I mean, this tournament has been full of
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: so many surprises. This is not the kind of surprise
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: that anybody wants to, you know, wants to see him,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: and he had two sets last match. Physically he would
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: have had a chance to be at his best, but
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: obviously he's dealing with something that better be unimaginable because
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: it is a disappointment, Yesloan this stage, the semi.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: Final, absolutely devastating to have to retire from such a
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: special moment. Obviously two Italians playing each other also, so
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: I think it's something We wish him all the best.
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: But in my mind, it has to be something that
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: he couldn't get out of bed this morning. He can't
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: move his body, his foot's broken, like, there has to
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: be something that's just so drastic that he wouldn't be
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: able to take the court today at all and just
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: attempt to play some tennis. So I wish him well
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: because I know it has to be that. For sure.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: He got here because Barrettini retired early in that match,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: so we didn't even have to play a full match.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: We thought, even after all those hours on court, he
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: would be arrested. Caroline now not playing.
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: I mean we talked about him early, right, he was
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: on the court for so many hours, but then we thought,
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: all right, he got a walk over kind of with Bertine.
• 1:58
  Speaker 5: He played a set and a half and we thought
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: he has plenty of times to rest. I didn't see
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: anything wrong with him in that match, and so I
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: think for all of us it's shocking that he's not
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: showing up. And you're right, I mean, there has to
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: be something where he literally can't get out of bed.
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: Sometimes you also have to fake it till you make
• 2:14
  Speaker 5: it right. So if you're hurt a little bit, you
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: try your best and hope for something else happening on
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: the other side. But obviously something very bad.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: He's literally going to be speaking to the press in
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the main room here at Roland Garros momentarily again when
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: he takes the podium, we will have it for you, and.
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: We keep talking. It's going to be so bad to
• 2:33
  Speaker 6: get out of bed. He just pulled out thirty minutes
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: before the match, so I'm assuming it's something where he's
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: been trying to play during the day. He's trying to
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: warm up, seeing if it feels all right. I'm a
• 2:43
  Speaker 6: little surprised that it's. Whatever it is, you can't work
• 2:46
  Speaker 6: your way through it. Again, We're going to find out
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: in a couple of minutes.
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: We saw it on the scoreboard here. We have a
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: scoreboard in the studio and it did say retired about
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: an hour ago. But we just assumed that was the
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: Legend's finals or whatever match. That was just another four
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: and it was a malfunction. We didn't think that that
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: was actually happening.
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: So when Nara wrote it to me an hour ago
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: and we were China, here's what.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Rolling Garos has put out due to viral illness. Arnaldi
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: has been forced to withdraw from his semi final match
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: against Koboli get Well Soon a viral illness.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: John is I didn't expect that.
• 3:22
  Speaker 7: I thought it was going to be something, you know, physical,
• 3:25
  Speaker 7: and Sam talked about how he was coming back from
• 3:28
  Speaker 7: a foot injury this year. I thought it was gonna
• 3:29
  Speaker 7: be something maybe possibly related to that. It has to
• 3:34
  Speaker 7: be very serious for him to pull out, I mean,
• 3:37
  Speaker 7: his first ever Grand Siliam semifinal. He's played nineteen hours
• 3:41
  Speaker 7: of tennis so far in this tournament.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: You know, my mind, you got to take a bird's word.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I don't know, it's got to be really bad. Something's
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: dealing with your reaction to that.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: I mean, I just hope he's stuck with Italian food
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: last night, because the whole country's going to be just
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: like devastated if he ventured away and maybe ate something bad.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, obviously any can happen. It takes it doesn't
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: just take talent to get this far, but you know,
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: it does take some luck in some cases that things
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: do go right, whether you have a brutal five set
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: match and then you do get the two days off,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: whether you have a brutal five set match and then
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: you have to come back and play a day and
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: a half later and play another person's gonna make you work.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: I mean, it takes a lot of things coming together.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: So you know, I don't want to We got to.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Hear what he has to say. Question, let's get to
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: the press conference right now.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: So this is just the fourth time since nineteen sixty
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: eight that at this stage of a tournament, men or women.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: We have a withdrawal MATEO or Naldi answering questions about
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: what happened. I'm not playing in the semi five.
• 4:40
  Speaker 8: Yeah, where to start. It's difficult to be here. It's
• 4:46
  Speaker 8: not what I wanted to do. But last night I
• 4:51
  Speaker 8: started to feel not very well like yesterday was feeling okay.
• 4:55
  Speaker 8: I came here to practice. I did everything I had
• 4:57
  Speaker 8: to do and I was feeling fine, and then dinner
• 5:00
  Speaker 8: I started to feel so so with my stomach. I
• 5:03
  Speaker 8: was like, all right, I just didn't digest very well.
• 5:06
  Speaker 8: But then I woke up at one am and I
• 5:08
  Speaker 8: started vomiting, and I was like feeling the best. Then
• 5:12
  Speaker 8: I tried to sleep. I couldn't sleep at all, and
• 5:15
  Speaker 8: at six seven I am, I vomited again, and this
• 5:19
  Speaker 8: time was pretty bad, and we called the doctor in
• 5:24
  Speaker 8: the room. He came gave me some stuff, and I
• 5:28
  Speaker 8: was hoping that I would, like, you know, just be
• 5:30
  Speaker 8: something from dinner or something like that. But then throughout
• 5:36
  Speaker 8: the day I couldn't eat. Every time I would did
• 5:39
  Speaker 8: something or would drink, I would go back to the bathroom.
• 5:42
  Speaker 8: So you know, it's stuff, stuff, Because for how the
• 5:50
  Speaker 8: tournament was, for how many hours I spent on court,
• 5:54
  Speaker 8: I was feeling actually very good. And you know, I
• 5:58
  Speaker 8: have to withdraw from the first slams on the final,
• 6:01
  Speaker 8: it's not something that you wish to anybody. And I
• 6:05
  Speaker 8: try to to get ready and try to stay like
• 6:10
  Speaker 8: as much as I could hear and try to see
• 6:12
  Speaker 8: if I could go on course. But every time I
• 6:15
  Speaker 8: get up, I feel dizzy and I don't feel like
• 6:17
  Speaker 8: the best, and I still I still like, I'm pretty
• 6:20
  Speaker 8: sure if I eat again, I'm not gonna feel like good.
• 6:23
  Speaker 8: So that was the right decision for me to take.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: We take one of the questions in English for Matrio anyone, well.
• 6:38
  Speaker 9: As one.
• 6:45
  Speaker 8: Sorry I'm hiding without being too specific, let say, do
• 6:49
  Speaker 8: you think you're ill or is it something that you've
• 6:52
  Speaker 8: eaten because there has been some food poisoning this torment.
• 6:56
  Speaker 8: I have no idea, to be honest, I think it's
• 6:58
  Speaker 8: a virus. I think because I mean, I was feeling
• 7:04
  Speaker 8: pretty cold. I think I had a fever like during
• 7:07
  Speaker 8: the day. But I don't know, to be honest, I
• 7:12
  Speaker 8: just know that I can't move, and I can't eat
• 7:15
  Speaker 8: and I can't drink.
• 7:16
  Speaker 9: So it's like there was really.
• 7:18
  Speaker 8: No way that I would be like be able to play.
• 7:21
  Speaker 8: I feel sorry for everyone that you know, got the
• 7:25
  Speaker 8: tickets and Kayim all the times that came to watch us.
• 7:28
  Speaker 8: I feel happy for him that he's gonna play the final,
• 7:31
  Speaker 8: but at the same time sorry because we couldn't play
• 7:34
  Speaker 8: a match, you know. So it's it's tough to be here.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I can't run all right. So or Naldi's there saying
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: that he thinks it's a virus. He can't move, he
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: can't eat, he can't drink, and then he wouldn't be
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: able to play. Sloan, I thought you brought up a
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: good question. If it is a virus, can we get
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: them out of the same room.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: Why would they be sitting anywhere near each other? Time
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: him call him? You never see a press conference with
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: two players anyway, So why would we do.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: That for one?
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: I'm a germophobe. I would be like, get away from me, Like,
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: don't even breathe the same air I'm breathing. And obviously,
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: if he's vomiting, and like it's contagious, a viral illness,
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: whatever it is, we don't need to know. No one
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: on your team needs to be near him. And you
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: know Italians are very lovey, Devey. They're hugging, they're doing
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: all this rubbing heads, the whole thing. Like, we don't
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: need to even be interacting. If that's the case, especially
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: for Koboli who's now through, that doesn't make any sense
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: to me at all.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: He said he was vomiting, He tried to sleep it off,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: he woke up still didn't feel well. It sounds like
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: it was continuous couldn't keep anything down, wondering whether it
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: was food poising, maybe a viral illness. This is something
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: we're still processing. It is happening in real time. Why
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: don't we bring in Jim Currier now, who was supposed
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: to be one of the two members calling this match.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Jim, I'm sure you're hearing this live. What is your reaction?
• 8:56
  Speaker 10: Surprised? I was just down in the player dining area
• 8:58
  Speaker 10: and I saw the Davis Cup captain, Filipo of a
• 9:00
  Speaker 10: laundry walking around, and I was like, it's gonna be awkward, right,
• 9:03
  Speaker 10: you got to sit in the middle. You can't kind
• 9:06
  Speaker 10: of favor He's like, yeah, it's very strange if he
• 9:08
  Speaker 10: knew he's a great actor, because there was no indication
• 9:11
  Speaker 10: that the match was off at that point, and that
• 9:13
  Speaker 10: was like thirty minutes ago. So a huge surprise, a
• 9:16
  Speaker 10: gut punch for a tournament that has lost a lot
• 9:19
  Speaker 10: of star power. But we're gonna get, honestly, the way
• 9:21
  Speaker 10: this is gonna shape out. The players who have played
• 9:24
  Speaker 10: the best are in the finals. Verev has been the
• 9:26
  Speaker 10: best player, the most consistent player in the bottom half
• 9:28
  Speaker 10: of the draw, and that's the case for Koboli in
• 9:31
  Speaker 10: the top half of the draw. He's been solid, he's
• 9:33
  Speaker 10: been consistent. He was going to start the huge favors
• 9:36
  Speaker 10: in this match in any case because of the nearly
• 9:38
  Speaker 10: twenty hours of tennis that Arnaldi had played, and maybe
• 9:41
  Speaker 10: that had something to do with his body being a
• 9:43
  Speaker 10: weakened state and contracting. Whether it's a virus, if it's
• 9:47
  Speaker 10: food poisoning, obviously I would have no correlation to that,
• 9:50
  Speaker 10: whatever the case may be. I think this is the
• 9:53
  Speaker 10: best final that we were going to get out of
• 9:55
  Speaker 10: the four players remaining. We have the drama of Zverev.
• 9:57
  Speaker 10: Can he get that off of his shoulder, the guy
• 10:00
  Speaker 10: who's supposed to win a major now he's favorite to
• 10:03
  Speaker 10: win the major. Can he kind of defeat the two demons,
• 10:06
  Speaker 10: one across the net, the one on his shoulder telling
• 10:08
  Speaker 10: him he can't do it. It's going to be a
• 10:10
  Speaker 10: fascinating final. But this is a huge disappointment, to say
• 10:14
  Speaker 10: the least, that there won't be a semi final. And
• 10:16
  Speaker 10: I've experienced this before. I've been on the Koboli side
• 10:19
  Speaker 10: of this. In nineteen ninety two, I'm playing in the
• 10:21
  Speaker 10: Australian Open semifinals. In twenty minutes before match time, Richard Krychek,
• 10:25
  Speaker 10: who would go on to win Wimbledon years later, came
• 10:28
  Speaker 10: up to me and said, Hey, I'm sorry, my shoulder's out.
• 10:30
  Speaker 10: I can't play. And I was like faked, like I
• 10:33
  Speaker 10: was disappointed. In the second he turned around, I fist
• 10:36
  Speaker 10: puff like crazy, like, let's go out and practice. But
• 10:39
  Speaker 10: you know, for a Koboli, he's into this first final,
• 10:43
  Speaker 10: it's going to be exciting for him. But this is
• 10:45
  Speaker 10: just awful. You feel so badly for Arnaldine.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what is that adjustment process like for Kaboli? Now?
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Since seeing as how you went through, how does he
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: now refocus after this news?
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 10:55
  Speaker 10: Well easy. The question is does he actually go out
• 10:58
  Speaker 10: and have another hit because this is a night match.
• 11:01
  Speaker 10: If you're playing a day match, you might want to
• 11:03
  Speaker 10: go out and maybe hit for another hour and keep
• 11:05
  Speaker 10: your body in the sequence of kind of pushing it
• 11:07
  Speaker 10: a little hard on that every other day sequence that
• 11:10
  Speaker 10: we play in the majors for the most part, at
• 11:12
  Speaker 10: this stage of the night, you might just shut it
• 11:14
  Speaker 10: down and just get a nice practice tomorrow. But the
• 11:16
  Speaker 10: good news is that both Sasha and Flavio they're going
• 11:21
  Speaker 10: to be rested. They're going to be ready. This is
• 11:23
  Speaker 10: going to be something to see on Sunday.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Jim, thank you so much again. Thank you for the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: perspective and the history. As we deal with this sudden news,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: you withdraw a walkover for Cabali as our Naldi not
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: going to play in the semifinals. Andre, I guess you've
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: had a little bit more time to process this. What
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: does this mean for tennis?
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: What does this mean for KOBALI don't ask me to
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: put it in context of tennis.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: It's just disappointing.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: That part will take take a little time. But I
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: can tell you that Christchik was lucky he was hurt
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: that day, Jim, because you had such a dominating record
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: over him anyhow, so Jim would have got through that one.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: But in any case, I think is right. I think
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: two guys that are in the finals we would have
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: expected over the last handful of days, and I think
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: we're going to see a great final with two rested players.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: I can tell you if you're throwing up and if
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: you're not feeling well and you're I mean, you can
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: see what tennis takes out of you with the amount of
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: hours spent on court, and if you're not out there hydrated,
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: You're not out there prepared to go. I mean, it's
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: a futile effort anyhow, So I do feel bad for him,
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: feel bad for tennis as well.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: The run that Arnaldi had been on, the most court
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: time anyone has logged, reaching a Slam quarter final.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: In the open era.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Think about all the five hour matches, the match against
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Tiafo that went five hours and I believe twenty nine minutes.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: It had us here until after one a m. Leaving
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: everything out there. He got a reprieve when Barattini's hit
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: forced a retirement. We thought he'd be able to catch up,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: but the illness caught up with him and now we're
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: left with an empty match here on Shatria.
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and it could be the illness combined with time
• 12:57
  Speaker 6: on court, combined with stress. But at the end end
• 13:00
  Speaker 6: of the day, with the Noel Karez, that crazy upset
• 13:02
  Speaker 6: with Center, that Fonseeka Novak match, all these five setters,
• 13:06
  Speaker 6: now the pullout today, we're going to have two top
• 13:10
  Speaker 6: ten players, two rested guys. They've both only lost two
• 13:13
  Speaker 6: sets in the final. So hopefully, after all said and done,
• 13:16
  Speaker 6: we do get a great final on Sunday with two
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: great players.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: It has undoubtedly been the craziest slam that we have
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: had in quite some time. Every twist and every turn,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: every round unpredictable. I'm hearing now Kabali is going to
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: hit on Shatrier in about twenty minutes to kind of
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: keep the flow going. But yeah, we don't have a
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: match for you, Kabali advances as a reaction. Here is
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Kabali in that press conference.
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: I love you.
• 13:45
  Speaker 9: I mean, obviously not the way that you want to
• 13:48
  Speaker 9: be going through to a final.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: But what are your emotions now at first Grand Sun Final?
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: But I guess sad for your friend too.
• 13:57
  Speaker 9: I mean it's also tough for me to to to
• 14:00
  Speaker 9: speak now. You know, when it came to me almost
• 14:05
  Speaker 9: one hour ago, I almost cried. You know, it's something
• 14:12
  Speaker 9: that you you don't expect at all. I was ready
• 14:19
  Speaker 9: to to play this match, and when it came, I
• 14:25
  Speaker 9: was completely sad for him. But at the same time,
• 14:30
  Speaker 9: of course, I'm really happy for the result that I
• 14:36
  Speaker 9: reach this this week. I think it's not I mean,
• 14:41
  Speaker 9: my dad also came to me right before him and
• 14:45
  Speaker 9: we we had a big hug together with the whole
• 14:50
  Speaker 9: team for fortune for the top ten. Every every time
• 14:56
  Speaker 9: that they make the best ranking. Also, we all together
• 15:01
  Speaker 9: have a big ag. And uh we did the same
• 15:04
  Speaker 9: routine as always and uh yeah now I'm I'm sad
• 15:09
  Speaker 9: and happy at the same time.
• 15:11
  Speaker 10: M