"Every time I would drink or I would try to eat, I would go vomit again" - Matteo Arnaldi could not eat for two days ahead of Roaland Garros withdrawal

Matteo Arnaldi enjoyed the run of his life at Roland Garros, reaching the semi-final. The chance of competing for an unlikely Grand Slam title was cruelly taken away from him with a mysterious virus getting the better of him.

Despite being ranked outside of the top 100, the Italian managed to pull off a brilliant run which involved a number of gruelling five-set clashes to blast into the semi-finals. He received a bit of fortune against Matteo Berrettini. The former Wimbledon finalist pulled out halfway through with injury, giving Arnaldi time to rest and recover for the semi-final.

What would have been the biggest match of his career never came about. Just moments before the match was set to start, a press conference involving him and opponent Flavio Cobolli was held with him unveiling the news.

The illness was an untimely one and unpleasant at that. Waking up and vomiting at 1am prevented him from getting much sleep. It was a tough decision to pull out which has had many onlookers bemused too why.

He has since not featured on court. Not wanting to aggravate a foot injury, Arnaldi has waited until the Eastbourne Open to get back to competing on court. Despite being ranked 35th in the world, he was forced to come through qualifying for the event. He took down British duo Alastair Gray and Toby Samuel to earn his place in the main draw. An opening tie against fellow qualifier Giles Hussey is his opening main draw task.

Surprisingly, Arnaldi is still very much in the dark about the prior illness he had, not quite putting his finger on what it was. “We don't actually know for sure," he explained ahead of the tournament in Sussex. "I never did 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 Sunday at lunch, I started to eat and drink again.”

He was unable to eat anything for a period of time, citing a similar situation he had in Mexico last year when a bout of food poisoning spread. “[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. You remember last year when a lot of players got sick with food poisoning or whatever, and I got sick as well? That was worse, definitely, but it was something similar. Every time I would drink or I would try to eat, I would go vomit again. It wasn't the best, but what can you do?”

Unable to participate once more on Court Philippe Chatrier, he could only take a back seat and wonder what could have been with Cobolli taking on Alexander Zverev in the final. It went to script and the world number three picked up a first ever Grand Slam title.

He was keeping an eye on proceedings. “I did [watch it], unfortunately. I'm not gonna comment. I just know that it would have been a good semi-final and if I won that, it would have been a good final for me as well,” Arnaldi said.

He still saw the positives from a great tournament while stressing the improvement with his foot. “But it was a good tournament, it was a good run. I played some of my best tennis, long matches, so I was happy about it, and now I'm here. I'm back playing the way that I want to play. I'm feeling a little bit better, in general also with my foot.”

It is very unusual to come off the back of a Grand Slam semi-final run to then being forced to qualify for an ATP 250 event. “It definitely wasn't easy to go from the semi-final of Roland Garros to play qualies here. I had to use some mental strength,” he laughed. However, he knuckled down and got the job done.

Arnaldi's rise in recent times back up the rankings has been a mesmeric one. Now back in the world top 40, that will give him the chance to compete at more tournaments, helping him build on his points tally which is in a very healthy position following the events in Paris a couple of weeks ago.

His goals have now altered. Despite being ranked outside the top 100 a month ago, he is now hopeful of qualifying for the ATP Finals in Turin. There is still a lot of work to do with him 22nd in the race but is determined to get another few deep runs under his belt, including Wimbledon, as he reassesses his goals for 2026.

“It's a weird feeling," he admitted. "Everything happened so fast that we actually didn't plan that, but obviously, now, we are planning to play differently throughout the season,” he said of his schedule. “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."

He is very happy with being healthy once more and competing regularly on court. With a gap opening up at the start of 2027 to gain more points, he is already looking at the long game. “Last year, I missed a lot. The first part of the year, until Miami, I missed a lot as well. I was missing playing tennis. I was missing spending time on court. So I'm just happy to be here, happy to play again the way I want and get a lot of wins, so that's the main thing, and I just want keep going until the end of the year and the next year because I have nothing to defend until Cagliari next year, so I have a lot of opportunities.”