Tomorrow in the quarterfinals the Italian match between Berrettini and Arnaldi while Cobolli faces Auger-Aliassime. All the Azzurri’s chances of winning in Paris
The amazing shape of Flavio Cobollithe rebirth of Matteo Berrettini and the resistance of Matteo Arnaldi. They are the three chips that we play in roulette Roland Garrosthe most important clay tournament in the world which in this 2026 edition is struggling to find a favourite. Orphan by Carlos Alcarazinjured his wrist and also absent from Wimbledon, Paris immediately lost Daniel Medvedev and above all Jannik Sinner. The world number one was the absolute favorite and whoever said that the only opponent for the South Tyrolean could be tiredness was right. Sinner against Cerundolo was two points away from victory after dominating the match but collapsed one step away from the finish line as happened to the legendary Dorando Petri in the marathon of the 1908 London Olympic Games. Paris returned us with interest for the elimination of Sinner, almost as if Cobolli, Berrettini and Arnaldi wanted to burden themselves with responsibility and shout to the world that Italian tennis is not just Jannik. After all, without him they had won the last Davis Cup and that Italian pride probably pushed them beyond their limits. Three Italians in the quarterfinals of a Slam is an epochal event that has never occurred in the history of tennis, but the appetite comes with eating and so let’s see what chances the three Italian boys have of conquering Roland Garros fifty years after Panatta. The great Adriano will in fact reward the winner and in his heart he hoped to repeat the scene of the Foro Italico with Sinner, but we are sure that if he were to find himself in front of one of Cobolli, Berrettini and Ansaldi he would still be happy.
The growth of Cobolli
Matteo Cobolli demonstrated in Paris that it is continually growing and that it has achieved, especially on clay, a very high level of maturity. At this point in the tournament, the Roman is the third favorite as seeded. He is number ten, on the other side of the board he is Aleksander Zverev who is number two and who Cobolli will only be able to meet in the final (he has already beaten him in Munich) and then there he is Auger-Auliassime, number four, who will be Cobolli’s next opponent in the quarter-finals. Tomorrow’s match against the Canadian could open the door for Italy to the final on June 7th against Philippe Chatrier because in case of victory Cobolli would go on to challenge the winner of the all-Italian derby between Berrettini and Arnaldi. In the two previous matches against the Canadian Cobolli he always won, but they were played on hard courts. In any case, the Italian is in a great moment and daydreams: “I just want to enjoy the tournament. I want to continue living this dream for as long as possible.”
The blue derby
It will be beautiful to see Matteo Berrettini and Matteo Arnaldi play the semi-final in Paris in an all-Italian derby in which it is difficult to find a favourite. Berrettini seems to have found himself in Paris, he hadn’t played with this continuity for many years and the final of a Slam wouldn’t be anything new for him given that won it at Wimbledon in 2021 then losing in four sets against Nole Djokovic after winning the first. “Tennis is the love of my lifefor me it means being happy”. In this 2026 and especially in Paris Berrettini has found his best physical condition, because the problems of recent years have mainly arisen from injuries. There have never been any doubts about the fact that he is not a great tennis player, now that he is well he can finally prove it again. On the other side of the net will be a boy who in the round of 16 against Tiafoe was on the court for five and a half hours until one in the morning, recovering from a match that seemed lost against the American who played top level tennis Matteo Arnaldi set the bar much higher than anyone could have imagined. “We live to play these matches, it’s a dream come true, the best match of my life.” The Roman and the Ligurian are both returning from truly complicated moments in their careers, with a series of injuries that have caused them to fall outside the Top-100 of the world rankings. In fact, Arnaldi occupies position number 104 and immediately behind him in place 105 is Berrettini. It hadn’t happened for thirty-five years that in a Slam there was a quarter-final between two players outside the top hundred in the world rankings. Curiosity has it that precisely that last precedent featured another Italian tennis player, Cristiano Caratti. In 1991 the Piedmontese tennis player managed to reach the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, where he was then defeated by the American Patrick McEnroe, brother of the more famous John, who won in the fifth set. They all talk about dreams, but here there is a clear reality about the strength of Italian tennis. The team result is already sensational, now is no longer the time to dream. Let’s go and take Roland Garros.
