If Arnaldi is to set his sights even higher, he needs a string of Masters 1000 winners!
He's the big sensation of this year's French Open in the men's category. Matteo Arnaldi, 23 and ranked 35th in the world, will be playing in the last 16. Initially the tormentor of the French, he has now turned into a head-cutter. The man who has never lost to a French player first knocked out Arthur Fils (6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2) before giving poor Alexandre Muller no chance (6-4, 6-1, 6-3). Having qualified for the third round, it would have been logical for him to stop there. Faced with a certain Andrey Rublev, his chances looked slim. However, he took to the court with the knife between his teeth and cracked the winner of the last tournament in Madrid (7-6, 6-2, 6-4).
Bluffing, the Transalpine will have to achieve a second feat if he is to reach the quarter-finals. After having beaten the Madrid winner, it's now the Monte-Carlo winner's turn: Stefanos Tsitsipas. It's not going to be an easy match, and Tsitsipas will once again be the underdog when he takes to the court on Sunday. Indeed, not only has Tsitsipas had an excellent preparation (title in Monaco, finalist in Barcelona), but above all, he has been playing at an excellent level since the start of the tournament. After two difficult but very well negotiated first rounds, he took things up a notch again on Friday. Against Zhizhen Zhang, 'Tsitsi' swept through the field, dispatching him in just over 1h30 (6-3, 6-3, 6-1).
Whatever the case, Italian tennis continues to impress, and Arnaldi is not about to contradict this. When asked about Italy's new golden age in tennis, the right-hander explained it as a result of stimulation and a benevolent but increased competition between all these players: "We're very close to each other. We're playing well, and that's good for Italian tennis. After the Davis Cup, we had a lot of energy, there were more and more people watching tennis in Italy and you see that your friends are winning good matches, so you want to do the same and that's a bit what pushes us to be better.
We've all known each other since we were 11-12 years old, we've played in the same tournaments, in national championships, in team competitions. It's good for us, for all Italians. For those who watch tennis, it's nice to see where we've come together."
