The French Open men’s semifinals were supposed to take place on Friday, but the second semifinal between Italians Flavio Cabolli and Matteo Arnaldi ended before it even began.
The 25-year-old Arnaldi had to withdraw from the second semifinal after he dealt with a viral illness the night before. While Arnaldi tried to prepare for the match, he said he was having trouble even standing up and didn’t think he could try to compete.
Due to a viral illness, Arnaldi has been forced to withdraw from his semi-final match against Cobolli.
Get well soon, Matteo 🧡#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/SHlbOZvY3i
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 5, 2026
Both Arnaldi and Cobolli have never made it this far in any grand slam tournament, and both were excited to represent Italy at the grand stage. Now, Arnaldi heads home while Cobolli moves on to his grand slam final debut.
Here’s why Arnaldi vs. Cobolli ended in a walkover.
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Matteo Arnaldi withdraws from French Open semifinal
Arnaldi explained that he started to feel ill last night and had trouble both eating ans sleeping through the night. At first he didn’t it was serious, but the illness never went away.
“Yesterday I was feeling okay. I came here to practice and did everything I had to do, I was feeling fine. I had dinner, I started to feel so-so with my stomach. I was like ‘alright, just didn’t digest very well.’ But then I woke up at 1 a.m. and started vomiting and I wasn’t feeling the best.” Arnaldi said.
“Couldn’t sleep at all. At 6, 7 a.m. I vomited again, this time it was pretty bad. We called the doctor in the room. He came and gave me some stuff and I was hoping it could just be something from dinner or something like that. But then, throughout the day I couldn’t eat. Every time I ate or drank something I would go back to the bathroom. So it’s tough.”
“It’s difficult to be here… it’s not what I wanted to do.”
Matteo Arnaldi addressed the media after withdrawing from the Roland-Garros Semifinal due to a viral illness. pic.twitter.com/Jvb0zS1cJk
— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) June 5, 2026
To get to the semifinals, Arnaldi beat Matteo Berrettini when Berrettini had to retire from the quarterfinals match. That gave Arnaldi extra time to rest for his match against Cobolli, but it didn’t matter in the end.
Arnaldi said he tried to prepare for the match today, but ultimately struggled to even get on his feet without feeling ill.
“I tried to get ready and tried to stay as much as I could here,” he said. “Tried to see if I could go on court but every time I get up I feel dizzy and I don’t feel the best. I’m pretty sure if I eat again I’m not gonna feel good. That was the right decision for me to take.”
This was Arnaldi’s first appearance in a grand slam semifinal, so he is understandably disappointed that he couldn’t compete. Instead, the match is officially a walkover, as Flavio Cobolli will move on to face Alexander Zverev in the final on Sunday.
“When he came to me almost 1 hour ago, I almost cried,” Cobolli said of his Italian counterpart. “It’s something that you don’t expect at all. I was ready to play this match and when he came I was completely sad for him.
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