Bathroom Rule Forces Flavio Cobolli Out of Australian Open, What Happened to Tennis Star?

Gastrointestinal distress was a contributing factor behind Flavio Cobolli's upset at the hands of Arthur Fery, 6-7(1), 4-6, 1-6, in the first round of the 2026 Australian Open.

The No. 20 seed confirmed after the match he was battling a stomach bug.

"Yesterday I was feeling good, I trained well and slept well. Today I woke up with a stomach problem — you can imagine what kind," he said, per Ubitennis (via ESPN.com's Matt Walsh). "I didn't vomit, but I lost a lot of fluids and suffered throughout the entire first set because of my stomach. There was nothing I could do about it; it's something you can't control. I thought I might start to feel better game by game, but now I actually feel worse."

Following the first set, Cobolli left the court and headed for the locker room. He was unable to take a bathroom break before that, which exacerbated his situation.

"As soon as I stepped onto the court, I started feeling strong pain and needed to go to the bathroom, but the rules don't allow that," he said. "I tried to hang in there, I took a lot of pills to try to stop everything, but they didn't work immediately. When I finally went to the bathroom, I felt a bit better at first, but then the pills kicked in, I lost a lot of fluids and my energy collapsed."

This is the second straight year Cobolli bowed out in the first round in Melbourne. He came up short against Tomas Martin Etcheverry in 2025.

A rematch with Etcheverry would've awaited in the next round after the Argentine veteran dispatched Miomir Kecmanovic in five sets. Instead, Fery will attempt to extend his Australian Open stay and advance to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.