French Open finalist fights back tears after opponent withdraws | Tennis | Sport

Flavio Cobolli revealed he was close to tears when Matteo Arnaldi informed him that he would be pulling out of their French Open semi-final, handing Cobolli a walkover to the final against Alexander Zverev. An announcement was made just minutes before the two Italians were due to play each other, and crowds had gathered on court, only to be left disappointed.

Arnaldi, who was the lowest-ranked man to reach the last four at Roland Garros since 1997, confirmed that he was suffering from a suspected virus. The 25-year-old said he “can’t move, can’t eat and can’t drink” and had to make the heartbreaking decision to withdraw from the match.

Cobolli is a compatriot and close friend of Arnaldi and admitted that he was very emotional when told the news.

“When he came to me an hour ago, I almost cried,” Cobolli said in a joint press conference. “It’s something you don’t expect at all. I was ready to play this match. I was completely sad for him.

“It’s also tough for me to speak now. At the same time of course I’m really happy for the result that I reached this week.

“My dad also came to me right before him, and we had a big hug together with the whole team for achieving for the top 10. Every time that I make the best ranking, we all together have a big hug. We did the same routine as always. Now I’m sad and happy at the same time.

“Matteo is a big inspiration for all of us. He’s an amazing player and amazing professionalist. I mean, he’s I think the best person outside the court for how he makes the thing, preparation of the match, focus, cooldown. He’s one of the best on the tour, for sure.

“I also deserves the result this week. He got injured last season and the beginning of this one. We all knew about his level. Everyone expect this result from him. His tennis is amazing, so I just said something like this. I wish him all the best for the future.”

A visibly disappointed Arnaldi told the same press conference: “It’s difficult to be here, it’s not what I wanted to do, but last night I started to feel not very well. Yesterday I was feeling fine, I came here to practice. I went to dinner, woke up at 1am and started vomiting, I couldn’t sleep at all, and at 6, 7am I vomited again, this time was pretty bad.

“We called the doctor and I was hoping that it would just be something from dinner but throughout the day I couldn’t eat, every time I would go back to the bathroom.

“It’s tough, because for how the tournament was, for how many hours I spent on court I was feeling very good. Having to withdraw from the first slam semi-final is not what you wish for anybody.”