Andre Agassi has perfect reaction to Matteo Arnaldi withdrawing from French Open

In a French Open that has had a lot of unexpected turns of events, the latest is Matteo Arnaldi, a player who had never reached a semifinal of a Grand Slam before, withdrawing due to a viral illness. The timing was odd, though, and tennis great Andre Agassi appeared to know that, too.

On set of TNT's broadcast ahead of the Arnaldi and Flavio Cobolli match, Agassi, upon hearing the news about the latter, simply put his head in his hands. He would then later say, "If you don’t show up, you can’t win...But obviously, he’s dealing with something that better be unimaginable."

Right. A player who has finally made such a deep run at a major and might never do so again would be expected to play in nearly any physical condition. If Arnaldi had an injury, that would be one thing. He didn't. The player simply claimed to have felt sick to his stomach.

Andre Agassi reacts for tennis fans everywhere after hearing Matteo Arnaldi had pulled out of the French Open

He did so while making the situation even stranger. Instead of eschewing an opportunity at a press conference, Matteo Arnaldi showed up to answer reporters' questions, and he said he had been vomiting during the night and didn't sleep.

The problem is that (and, to be sure, he definitely could have been telling the full truth), if Arnaldi had been too sick to play, he should have been too ill to show up for a press conference. Just withdraw and let the media figure out what the issue is. He didn't owe it to reporters to explain how bad his stomach problem was.

That he talked in a press conference implies his illness wasn't truly that bad, and other athletes have had it worse. Michael Jordan had the flu in 1997, but he played for the Chicago Bulls, scored 55 points, and lifted his team to a victory over the New York Knicks, for instance. Arnaldi missed his chance to have his own "flu game" because he decided not to play.

Maybe he would have lost badly to Flavio Cobolli, but he likely wouldn't have made himself even sicker. By withdrawing, he didn't give himself a chance to prove what he could or could not do, and he did so not knowing if he would realistically ever be in the same position again.

Ultimately, some might question if Matteo Arnaldi pulled out of the tournament to help his fellow Italian, Cobolli. The latter likely has a better chance to defeat Alexander Zverev in the final of the French Open, and due to the withdrawal of Arnaldi, Cobolli will have a couple of days' extra rest.

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