Matteo Arnaldi woke at 1 a.m. on the night before his first Grand Slam semifinal and started vomiting. He tried to sleep and couldn’t, and by Friday afternoon at Roland Garros in 2026 he had withdrawn from the match against his friend Flavio Cobolli. “I just know that I can’t move, and I can’t eat, and I can’t drink. There was really no way that I would be able to play,” he said, sitting at the same press conference table as Cobolli. The withdrawal, put down to a viral illness, ended a run that had already set an ATP Tour record for time spent on court on the way to a major quarterfinal.
Early career and Davis Cup
Arnaldi was born on 22 February 2001 in Sanremo and turned professional in 2019. He won gold in men’s doubles at the 2022 Mediterranean Games in Oran. His Challenger titles in 2023 included Murcia, where he beat Borna Gojo 6-4, 7-6(4) in the final.
The same season he reached the fourth round of the US Open, his best major result until Paris, and was part of the Italian team that won the 2023 Davis Cup. His Davis Cup singles and doubles record stands at 3-2.
Rublev in Paris, and the climb to No. 30
At Roland Garros in 2024 he beat 29th seed Arthur Fils in the first round and then sixth seed Andrey Rublev in the third, 7-6(8), 6-2, 6-4 on Court Suzanne Lenglen. He saved a set point in the opening tiebreak. Rublev fell apart as the match went on and said afterwards he could not remember behaving worse at a Slam. That August, Arnaldi reached his career-high ranking of No. 30.
Roland Garros 2026
Arnaldi started 2026 with eight defeats in his first ten matches while dealing with a foot injury, according to the ATP Tour. Paris changed his season. He played 18 sets across his first four matches, including a five-set win over Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round that lasted five hours and 26 minutes, according to the tournament’s own records. Bleacher Report’s account of the run also lists a win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
In the quarterfinals he was a set up when Matteo Berrettini retired with a hip injury before the end of the second set. The ATP Tour calculated that Arnaldi had spent 17 hours and 42 minutes on court over his first four matches, almost two hours more than any player had needed to reach a major quarterfinal since it began recording match times in 1991.
Then came the illness. The last player to withdraw before a major semifinal had been Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2022. Cobolli went through to the final to face Alexander Zverev. “It’s tough because for how the tournament was, for how many hours I spent on court, I was feeling actually very good,” Arnaldi said. “To have to withdraw from the first Slam semifinal is not something that you wish to anybody.”
Playing style
Arnaldi is a right-hander with a two-handed backhand, listed at 1.85m. His best results have come on clay and outdoor hard courts. Reuters’ report on the Rublev match credited his accuracy and power. Paris in 2026 added the other part of the picture: 18 sets in four rounds, after which, in his own words, he was still feeling very good until the illness hit.
Grand Slam record
- Australian Open: second round (2024)
- Roland Garros: semifinals (2026, withdrew before playing)
- Wimbledon: first round (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026)
- US Open: fourth round (2023)
Season snapshot — 17 September 2026
Ranked No. 36 as of 31 August 2026, with a career high of No. 30, first reached on 12 August 2024. Coached by Fabio Colangelo and Matteo Civarolo. The Roland Garros run is the story of his season. The Asian swing is next.
This snapshot is dated and will change. The career record above does not.
