Fans Slam Andre Agassi for Saying He Could’ve Beaten Sick Matteo Arnaldi at 56 After His French Open Semifinal Withdrawal- “He Should Just Shut Up”

Matteo Arnaldi handed the walkover to fellow first-time Grand Slam semifinalist Flavio Cobolli.

Fans Slam Andre Agassi for Saying He Could’ve Beaten Sick Matteo Arnaldi at 56 After His French Open Semifinal Withdrawal- “He Should Just Shut Up”

Andre Agassi, Matteo Arnaldi (Image via Tennis365, ATP Tour)

This Roland Garros has already seen a lot of shock results. Another unexpected thing happened on the semifinal day. Matteo Arnaldi suffered from a severe viral illness, due to which he was forced to withdraw from his match against compatriot Flavio Cobolli.

Arnaldi, who, before this event, had never made it past the fourth round of a Major, received a walkover from compatriot Matteo Berrettini in the quarterfinals. He played the fourth rounds of two Majors (2023 US Open and the 2024 French Open). The 25-year-old also has yet to win a title in a tour-level singles event.

As he handed the walkover to Cobolli, the latter will now be playing his career’s first Grand Slam final. Cobolli will be up against World No.3 Alexander Zverev, who clinched a comprehensive four-set win over Jakub Mensik, progressing to his second Roland Garros final as well as his fourth overall Grand Slam final.

Reacting to Arnaldi’s withdrawal, Andre Agassi put his head in his hands on the set of TNT Sports’ broadcast. But he also made a controversial comment regarding Arnaldi’s withdrawal.

I could have beat Arnaldi today, at 56 years old. 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… Physically, he would have had a chance to be at his best. But obviously, it was something that had better be unimaginable. Because it is a disappointment.

Some from the tennis world are criticizing Arnaldi, saying he should have played through sickness as he was not injured. And as Arnaldi also attended the press conference, some are saying if he was very sick to play, he should have been sick to answer reporters’ questions.

I can tell you if you’re throwing up, and if you’re not feeling well, you can see what tennis takes out of you. With the amount of hours spent on court, if you’re not out there hydrated, you’re not out there prepared to go; it’s a futile effort anyhow. So I do feel bad for him. I feel bad for tennis as well.

Andre Agassi added

En route to the semifinal, Arnaldi knocked out two-time Major finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round and former World No.10 Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round.

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Andre Agassi slammed for his controversial comment about Matteo Arnaldi

Fans think Andre Agassi shouldn’t have said he could have defeated Matteo Arnaldi since he had no idea the severity of the sickness. Some fans pointed out that Arnaldi spent 19 hours and 42 minutes on court en route to the semifinals (a record).

Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi (Tennis USA)

Check out their reactions here:

The men’s final is scheduled to be held on Sunday (June 7). Zverev holds a 3-1 head-to-head lead over Cobolli, but they both won a match each this season against each other.

Sascha clinched the win in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open, while Cobolli stopped Zverev’s title defense by knocking him out of the semifinals of the Munich Open. Cobolli then lost the final to Ben Shelton. The 24-year-old has won one title this season, the Mexican Open by beating Frances Tiafoe.

Zverev, however, has not yet won a title since the 2025 Munich Open. Before reaching the French Open final, the 29-year-old played just one title clash this season, at the Madrid Open, where Jannik Sinner breezed past him, winning his ninth consecutive match against him.

In the 2024 French Open final, Zverev was denied the win by Carlos Alcaraz in five sets. Last year, Sinner dismantled him in the Australian Open final.

Also read: Venus Williams Backs Maja Chwalinska to Complete Fairytale Run at Roland Garros: “It’s Definitely a Cinderella Story”