Botic van de Zandschulp considered retiring from tennis following a first-round loss at the French Open just a few months ago. That’s how bad things had gotten in his once promising career.
It’s a good thing he didn’t.
Engineering a rags-to-riches rise rarely seen outside of Hollywood, Van de Zandschulp shocked reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 in round two of the U.S. Open on Friday night. The 28-year-old broke serve a whopping six times in three sets and won a stellar 28 of 35 net points to pull off the upset in two hours and 19 minutes.
“I’m a little bit lost for words,” Van de Zandschulp commented. “It’s been an incredible evening, the first night session for me on Arthur Ashe. The crowd was amazing…. I got a lot of confidence from my last match (against Denis Shapovalov). I played really solid and from point one tonight. I believed I could have a chance and you see how it sometimes turns out.”
Belief and confidence had been lacking for the Dutchman in 2024. He was 11-18 on the main tour heading into New York and in his last seven main-tour matches was 2-5 with no wins over anyone in the top 155 of the rankings. Van de Zandschulp played two Challengers in July and failed to win either one.
Suddenly, though, a 6-1, 6-1, 7-5 French Open loss to Fabio Fognini that almost drove BVDZ to quit the sport seems like something from a very distant past.
Unfortunately for Alcaraz, so too do his triumphs in Paris and London. The third-ranked Spaniard lost to Novak Djokovic in the gold-medal match at the Paris Olympics and then got upset right away in Cincinnati by Gael Monfils. Now he is out of New York after just two matches, coming out on the wrong end of one of the biggest surprises in recent tennis history.
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wowzer
What’s up with Carlos these days?! 😩 Nit even a set he was able to win? There is something wrong!
He was VERY upset after losing to Novak at the Olympics. Seems to have really shaken his self-confidence and self-belief. Said he was suffering from mental fatigue which I am sure is true.
Rafa really suffered from fatigue in 2008 even though he won the gold. Although his loss to Murray in the USO semis was obviously not comparable.
Carlos needs a bit of perspective. He won the channel slam this year!! He has had a great year regardless.
Hey Amy!!!
Precisely!! I mean Novak took a number of Olympic Games b4 he was able to clinch it!!! Carlos has a lot of time!!! He needs to pace himself he can’t win everything at once!! It doesn’t work that way!!!
Hey Mona!! Great to see you!
Carlos is expecting too much of himself. He is only 21 and won Channel slam a year before Rafa did ( although Rafa had it way harder playing peak Fed on grass for years).
The Olympics really does the players’ heads in! It’s so emotionally loaded.
Anyhow, GS tennis is so dead these days!! It will take forever for me to get used to not feeling the energy Rafa brought to the tour!! 😩
Oh I agree!! I don’t have a lot of interest in men’s tennis these days. Much prefer WTA.