Flavio Cobolli to face Alexander Zverev in French Open final as Matteo Arnaldi withdraws

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cobolli-flavio/zDtaCcPe/"]Cobolli[/a], the 10th seed, was due to be playing in his first Grand Slam semi-final but will instead benefit from some extra rest ahead of Sunday's final.[/p][p]"[b]It's tough for me to speak also. When he came to me an hour ago, I almost cried[/b]," said Cobolli of his friend [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/arnaldi-matteo/hlVLAfZK/"]Arnaldi[/a], as they held a joint press conference while sitting three metres apart.[/p][p]"[b]I was ready to play this match and when he came I was completely sad for him, but at the same time of course I'm really happy for the result that I reached this week[/b]."[/p][p]World number 104 Arnaldi had spent the most amount of time on court for a player en route to a Grand Slam semi-final, winning marathon matches in the third and fourth rounds.[/p][embed guid="ed812777-8ad3-4e4d-a120-4a025415d931" url="https://x.com/rolandgarros/status/2062938790574870949" social-type="twitter" /][p]His quarter-final opponent, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/berrettini-matteo/OhwtM7N8/"]Matteo Berrettini[/a], retired injured in the second set of their last-eight tie.[/p][p]But Arnaldi's dreams of a remarkable Slam title were ended by a virus.[/p][p]"[b]It's tough, because for how the tournament was, for how many hours I've been on the court, I was feeling actually very good[/b]," he said.[/p][p]"[b]To have to withdraw from the first (Grand Slam) semi-finals is not something that you wish to do anyway, and I tried to get ready and try to stay as much as I could here and try to see if I could go forward[/b].[/p][p]"[b]But every time I get up I feel dizzy and I don't feel like the best, and I'm pretty sure if I eat again I'm not going to feel good, so that was the right decision[/b]."[/p]