John McEnroe has questioned Flavio Cobolli’s decision to hold a joint-press conference with Matteo Analdi following the latter’s withdrawal ahead of their French Open semi-final match.
Shortly before the Italians were due to take to Court Philippe-Chatrier, Arnaldi announced that he would not be able to play as he had been sick since Thursday afternoon.
The unseeded Arnaldi, who spent 19 hours and 42 minutes on court to reach the last four, spoke to the media and he was joined by good friend Cobolli, who sat at the far end of the desk.
“It’s difficult to be here. It’s not what I wanted to do, but last night I started to feel not very well,” Arnaldi explained. “Yesterday I was feeling okay. I came here to practise. I did everything I had to do, and I was feeling fine.
“Then 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 am, and I started vomiting, and I wasn’t feeling the best.”
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The 10th-seeded Cobolli shared his compatriot’s pain as he paid tribute to the 25-year-old.
“Matteo is a big inspiration for all of us,” the 10th seed said. “He’s an amazing player and an amazing professional. I think the best person outside the court for how he makes things, preparation of the match, focus, cooldown. He’s one of the best on the Tour, for sure.
“He deserves the result this week. He got injured last season and the beginning of this one. We all knew about his level. Everyone expects this result from him. His tennis is amazing. I wish him all the best for the future.”
Although there were quite a few metres between the pair during the press conference, tennis great McEnroe believes Cobolli took an unnecessary risk with the French Open final against Alexander Zverev just a couple of days away.
“If Arnaldi is here and doing a press conference, why is Cobolli so close to him? If he is sick and has a virus you wouldn’t want to catch it,” he told TNT Sports and Eurosport.
Although Arnaldi insisted that he was feeling fine in terms of his fitness despite spending nearly a full day on court over the fortnight, McEnroe believes it contributed to him falling ill.
The former world No 1 added: “It sucks, that’s the bottom line.
“I’m no doctor but I think it caught up with him. The guy had played more tennis to get to the semis than anyone had ever played in this event. Combine that with some nerves and some bad luck, or the wrong food.
“I was amazed that Arnaldi bounced back as well as he did after the [Frances] Tiafoe match to be honest. He played five-and-a-half hours. He played a couple of marathon matches.”
*John McEnroe is part of TNT Sports’ Roland-Garros coverage*
*Every match of Roland-Garros is live across TNT Sports and HBO Max*.
