PARIS (AP) — Having spent a large part of the night vomiting and deprived of sleep, Matteo Arnaldi was in no shape to fight for a spot in the French Open final.
The 104th-ranked Arnaldi withdrew before the first all-Italian men's Grand Slam semifinal against Flavio Cobolli on Friday at Roland Garros.
Arnaldi believed he caught a virus and said he could not play competitive tennis.
“I think it’s a virus because I was feeling pretty cold,” he said. “I had a fever. I just know that I can’t move, and I can’t eat, and I can’t drink.”
His withdrawal handed Cobolli a place in Sunday's final against second-seeded Alexander Zverev.
Arnaldi said he felt fine during practice on Thursday, until he had dinner.
“I started to feel so-so with my stomach,” he told a press conference also attended by Cobolli, who sat at the other end of the interview desk.
“I was, like, ‘All right, just didn’t digest very well.’ But then I woke up at 1 a.m. and I started vomiting. Then I tried to sleep. I couldn’t sleep at all. At 6, 7 a.m. I vomited again. This time was pretty bad.”
He summoned a doctor to his room and took medicine.
“I was hoping that it would just be something from dinner or something like that, but then throughout the day I couldn’t eat," Arnaldi said. "Every time we did something or would drink, I would go back to the bathroom."
He reached the semifinals after countryman Matteo Berrettini retired in their quarterfinal due to a hip injury before the end of the second set. Arnaldi spent a total of 19 hours, 42 minutes on court, more than any other player has taken to make the semifinals at any major tournament since the ATP Tour began recording match times in 1991.
“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. I tried to get ready and tried to stay as much as I could here and tried to see if I could go on court, but every time I get up, I feel dizzy, and I don’t feel like the best. I’m pretty sure if I eat again, I’m not going to feel, like, good. That was the right decision for me to take."
Cobolli said he was saddened by the news.
“When he came to me almost one hour ago, I almost cried,” he said. “Matteo is a big inspiration for all of us.”
AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Italy's Matteo Arnaldi reacts during the quarterfinal tennis match against Italy's Matteo Berrettini at the French Open in Paris, Wednesday, June 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Italy's Flavio Cobolli reacts after winning the quarterfinal tennis match against Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime at the French Open in Paris, Wednesday, June 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Italy's Matteo Arnaldi holds a press conference after witdrowing from a semifinal match due to an injury at the French Open in Paris, Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
California Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui advanced to the November ballot on Friday after facing a reelection challenge from a younger Democrat.
Matsui, 81, has been in Congress since she replaced her late husband, former Rep. Bob Matsui, in the Sacramento-based seat in 2005.
In a statement referencing the upcoming runoff, Matsui vowed to “earn the trust of voters for another term in Congress.”
She faced a primary challenge from fellow Democrat Mai Vang, a member of the Sacramento City Council, and is one of several older Democrats challenged by younger insurgents this year. The second slot on the general election ballot has not yet been determined, but Vang issued a statement saying she was optimistic with the direction in which the count was moving.
“This is what people power looks like,” Vang said.
Two other House Democrats facing younger challengers, Reps. Brad Sherman in Los Angeles and Mike Thompson in Northern California, advanced to the general election as well.
But California's House primaries were most significant for being the first test of whether Democrats are able to add five potential pickups after they persuaded voters to let them redraw the electoral map last year.
The redistricting was sold as a countermeasure to Republican efforts to gain seats by reworking maps in states they control, including Texas.
Heading into Tuesday’s election, Democrats worried that California’s primary format, which sends the top two vote-getters to the general election regardless of party, could lead to them getting locked out of a seat they drew to their advantage in the San Diego’s suburbs.
That did not happen, as San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert advanced to face Republican Jim Desmond, a San Diego County supervisor.
Democrats are at risk of being shut out of another district they expected to pick up, in Sacramento’s suburbs — though the danger of that dimmed Friday as Democratic former state Sen. Richard Pan moved into the top two for the first time. Tens of thousands of more ballots remain to be tallied, and it is too soon to know who will make it to November.
Another redrawn district, which straddles Orange and Riverside counties in Southern California, favors Republicans. GOP Rep. Ken Calvert has advanced to the November election in the 40th District but does not yet know who his opponent will be. He had a bruising primary fight with fellow Republican Rep. Young Kim, whom Democrats drew into a new district that includes areas Calvert previously represented.
In San Francisco a wealthy progressive challenger was unable to crack the top two slots to fill retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat. Instead state Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan will face off to replace the former House speaker.
And in the Central Valley, Republican Rep. David Valadao, widely considered one of the most vulnerable House Republicans, is waiting to see if he will face centrist Democrat and Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains or progressive political science professor and school board member Randy Villegas in November.
Several races cannot be called yet because of California's typical drawn-out election count, in which mail ballots that tend to come from more Democratic areas are counted later, eroding conservatives' traditional leads in votes reported on election night.
Trump has previously seized on the count to baselessly alleged fraud and did so again Thursday, adding that his Justice Department would investigate the state over it. A federal prosecutor toured Los Angeles' main vote-counting facility on Friday.
Voters cast their ballots for the California primary election on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif.. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Sacramento council member Mai Vang, who is running for Congress, speaks at her election night party in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday,, June 2, 2026.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., speaks during an election night event Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
