Bertolucci is furious after absurd accusations against Arnaldi
The day of the big dream turned into a nightmare: Matteo Arnaldi had to forfeit the most important match of his career due to a virus, which forced him to forfeit the Roland Garros semifinal against Flavio Cobolli. At a press conference, the Ligurian tennis player recounted his Black Friday distraught and was consoled by his rival, but on social media, the haters showed no mercy.
Former Italian tennis player and now Sky commentator Paolo Bertolucci, who was among the first to report Arnaldi’s forfeit, lashed out at those who had launched suspicions and inferences. “You are very bad,” he wrote in response to a user who spoke of an “Italian-style” deal.
“I would say that at least you try in a semifinal. Really surprising to communicate this 10 minutes before the start,” is the post on X by a user that provoked Bertolucci’s immediate and ironic response, “Try what? Set the record time to run from the field to the bathroom?” And to those who start off with hypothetical diagnoses, he replied sarcastically, “And then they say there is a lack of doctors in Italy….”
Explaining in detail what happened was Arnaldi himself at a press conference, his voice broken with bitterness: “Difficult to be here, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it. But last night I was not well, after dinner I felt something in my stomach. I started vomiting, not feeling well, but I couldn’t sleep well. I was going back and forth from the bathroom. It’s not easy, for how many hours I spent on the court.”
The Ligurian tennis player also clarified that he did not understand the origin of the malaise: “I didn’t take medicine, I just went to dinner. I don’t know, we didn’t understand what it comes from. I was fine, yesterday I practiced an hour and I was fine, everything according to plan. I saw Flavio at 6 p.m. in the locker room, when I had to get ready I realized it would be impossible and I told him I would not play. It didn’t make sense, I would have risked injury, and it would have been disrespectful to him and to people.”
