Matteo Arnaldi Finally Opens Up About Mysterious Virus that Halted the Run of His Career at Roland Garros

Matteo Arnaldi was enjoying the best run of his career at the Roland Garros before a mysterious virus forced him to pull out in the semi-finals. The Italian star had a chance to win his first Grand Slam but suddenly began vomiting each time he ate, hours before facing fellow compatriot Flavio Cobolli.

Arnaldi’s run at the French Open was one of the most outstanding episodes of the clay-court season. The Italian star was ranked outside the Top 100 when he arrived at the tournament, but was still able to pull off brilliant victories, which involved several grueling five-set clashes, to reach the semi-finals.

He received a bit of fortune against Matteo Berrettini, who retired halfway through their quarter-final match at the Court Philippe-Chatrier. After earning his place in his first Grand Slam semi-finals, in what would have been his biggest match, he unfortunately announced he was going to pull out of the tournament due to illness.

The illness was an untimely one and unpleasant at that. He had woken by 1am on the day of his semi-final match, vomiting, which prevented him from getting much sleep. It was a tough decision for the World No.35 as he had a chance of reaching the final of the Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

He has not featured on the court since then, not wanting to aggravate the illness. However, he’s currently at the Eastbourne International, which is a warm-up tournament ahead of the Wimbledon Championship. In his media interview, he admitted he didn’t do any tests to ascertain the reason he fell ill hours before his semi-finals match at Roland Garros:

We don’t actually know for sure. I never did an analysis or anything, but we think it was a virus or something, because on the day of the match, I wasn’t feeling okay, and then the day after as well, I wasn’t at my best, and then I flew back home. And on Sunday at lunch, I started eating and drinking again. [I didn’t eat for] two full days, and breakfast in the morning. So it was pretty bad. I don’t know why. It was similar to what happened to me in Acapulco.

Despite being ranked World No.35 in the ATP rankings, Arnaldi had to play in the qualifying rounds of the Eastbourne. That was because, when the draw list was released, he was still ranked outside the Top 100 and competing at Roland Garros. However, his current ranking position will be reflected at Wimbledon.

Matteo Arnaldi changes his goal for this season following rise in the ATP rankings

Matteo Arnaldi’s rise in the ATP rankings has prompted him to revise some of his goals for this season. The 25-year-old reached a career-high ranking of World No.30 in 2024, but dropped in his ranking before climbing back into the top 40 earlier this month, which will give him the chance to compete at more tournaments.

During the aforementioned interview, he revealed that he hopes to qualify for this year’s ATP Finals in Turin. Currently, he still has a lot of work to do to be among the top 8, as he finds himself in 22nd position in the race. Should he have another Grand Slam deep run, he might have the chance to get close to the top 10:

It’s a weird feeling. Everything happened so fast that we actually didn’t plan that, but obviously, now, we are planning to play differently throughout the season. So it changes a lot, but definitely I’m thinking also about Turin. I’m like 22, I think, in the race. So it’s not impossible. So there are a lot of things, but the main thing in my mind is to go back to play a lot of matches, go back to win matches.

Arnaldi is currently in a healthy position in the ATP rankings but will look to maintain it as the season progresses. The World No. 35’s last win over a top-10 player in a tournament came at the Italian Open against Alex de Minaur. He beat the Australian star in the second round only to lose to Rafael Jodar in the next round.

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