French Open: Coco Gauff’s Coach Left Spellbound With Italian Dominance on ATP Tour After Matteo Arnaldi Scripted History

The French Open has served us with another major upset. After Rafael Nadal’s loss, Matteo Arnaldi faced world number 6 Andrey Rublev and forced him to book a return flight home. He was ahead in each set and sealed a great victory. The tennis world was taken aback at his win, including the coach of Coco Gauff. Not only did he praise the player, but also the system which groomed him to be great.

Arnaldi likely dreaded when he realized he had to face the Madrid Open champion in round 3 of the Roland-Garros. However, he put his head down and got to work and won the clash 7-6, 6-2, 6-4. Brad Gilbert was impressed with the 23-year-old and praised him on his ‘X’ page.

“Live ATP Ranking Italian 🇮🇹 men’s tennis 🎾 has 5 players in top 50 Arnadi ranked 34 is the oldest at 23, there challenger system having so many during the year on home soil is simply working off the charts bravo 📊 👍😎👏👊💪.”

Gilbert not only praised the player but also lauded the Challenger system in Italy, which helped him advance to defeat such a player. As Arnaldi rises to rank 34, he attains a new career high. This is also the third tournament in the year where the Italian player has won three matches. The Barcelona Open and the Miami Open were the previous tournaments. 

Although the victory was glorious, Arnaldi has more memories to take home from the match. We saw Rublev become a calmer personality in the past few tournaments after witnessing mind-boggling meltdowns. The new world number 34 threw the development out of the window.

Matteo Arnaldi breaks Andrey Rublev’s serve and mind

Rublev had a meltdown after falling behind by two sets in his third-round encounter on Suzanne Lenglen. The world number 6 yelled when Arnaldi broke him in the second set. The first scream came when Rublev had his serve broken at 2-2. He threw his racquet to the ground and yelled. After being broken again, making the score 5-2, he smashed his racquet on the dirt and yelled in the direction of his box.

After losing a close first set, Rublev became more and more stressed with each point. Eventually, the pressure reached high enough, and he added another outburst to his 2024 list. During the changeover, Rublev kicked the base of his bench several times, earning him a code violation. 

Relieving the pressure did not help the Madrid Open champion, as he would go on to lose the clash. Now, Arnaldi moves on, while Rublev has to reflect on his loss.