Matteo Arnaldi

Career

Matteo Arnaldi first played in an ATP Tour main draw at the 2022 Italian Open, having earned his spot through a pre-qualification wildcard tournament. He was beaten by Marin Čilić in the opening round. Later that year, as a wildcard at the Internazionali di Tennis d'Abruzzo, he claimed his first ATP Challenger title by defeating Francesco Maestrelli. After Holger Rune pulled out of the 2022 ATP Finals, Arnaldi became the first alternate and entered the 2022 Next Generation ATP Finals, where he lost all three of his group matches.

2023: Major debut, Davis Cup champ

In April 2023, following his third Challenger title at the Murcia Open, Arnaldi reached a career-high ranking of world No. 102. He then qualified for the ATP 500 event in Barcelona, winning his first match against Jaume Munar before falling to 12th seed Dan Evans in the second round.

At the Madrid Open, also as a qualifier, he beat fellow qualifier Benoit Paire for his first Masters 1000 victory. He then stunned world No. 4 Casper Ruud in straight sets—his first win over a top-10 player—to reach the third round, where he lost to Jaume Munar in three sets. That run pushed him into the top 100 for the first time, at No. 99 on 8 May 2023.

Given a wildcard into the main draw of the Italian Open, Arnaldi defeated Diego Schwartzman before losing to fellow Italian and 18th seed Lorenzo Musetti in the second round. He qualified for his first Grand Slam main draw at the French Open, where he beat Daniel Elahi Galán to reach the second round, then lost to 26th seed Denis Shapovalov. At Wimbledon, he made his debut but fell in the first round to Roberto Carballés Baena.

In Umag, Arnaldi defeated qualifiers Jesper de Jong and Flavio Cobolli, then top seed Jiří Lehečka, to reach his first ATP semifinal. He lost to eventual champion Alexei Popyrin in a match that lasted over three hours.

At the Canadian Open, he qualified and beat wildcard Vasek Pospisil in the first round, then lost to world No. 3 Daniil Medvedev in the second. At the US Open, he defeated Jason Kubler, Arthur Fils, and 16th seed Cameron Norrie to reach the fourth round, where world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz ended his run. Despite that loss, Arnaldi broke into the top 50, rising to No. 47 on 11 September 2023.

To start the Asian swing, he qualified for the ATP 500 China Open and reached the second round by defeating fellow qualifier JJ Wolf.