Andre Agassi couldn’t wrap his head around Matteo Arnaldi withdrawing from the French Open semifinals, so instead he buried his hands in his face.
Arnaldi withdrew from facing Flavio Cobolli just 25 minutes before the players were due on the court at Roland Garos. The world’s No. 104-ranked player and a Cinderella semifinalist cited a viral illness.
Host Adam Lefkoe broke the stunning news to the television panel of analysts live and Agassi’s hands-to-face reaction showed his disbelief.
“Obviously, he’s dealing with something that better be unimaginable,” Agassi said on TNT.
Arnaldi later detailed that he was unable to sleep and vomited once at 1 a.m. and then again a few hours later. He called a doctor to his room and the perscribed medicines didn’t help him keep down food or liquids.
Arnaldi said he is also dealing with dizziness.
“It’s not what I wanted to do,” Arnaldi said. “It’s tough. For how the tournament was, for how many hours I spent on the court, I was feeling very good. To have to withdraw from your first (Grand) Slam semifinal is not something you wish on anybody.”
Before Arnaldi explained his symptoms, Agassi put a twist on the old cliché: You can’t win if you don’t play.
“I could have beat Arnaldi today, at 56 years old,” the eight-time Grand Slam champion said. “If you don’t show up, you can’t win. It’s just disappointing. This tournament has been full of so many surprises. This is not the kind of surprise that anybody wants to see.”
Cobolli advanced to face Alexander Zverev in the French Open final.
How rare is what happened to Arnaldi?
The previous withdrawal from a Grand Slam semifinalist occurred in 2022, when Rafael Nadal could not continue at Wimbledon after suffering an abdominal tear.
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