Carlos Alcaraz faced a shock upset against Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round of the 2024 US Open. The World No. 74 was considering retirement a few months ago due to injury concerns but he continued to play and earned one of the biggest wins of his career.
Alcaraz got the better of Li Tu in the first round while Zandschulp ousted Denis Shapovalov. In their second-round clash on Thursday, August 29, the Spaniard was a favorite considering his 15-match win streak at Grand Slams. The Dutchman, on the other hand, had not reached the third round in his past eight Grand Slam main draw appearances.
However, Zandschulp came flying off the block, denying Alcaraz a single winner throughout the first set. Further, he earned breaks at crucial moments in the second and third sets and did not lose his composure to win both sets while serving. Eventually, Zandschulp won the match comfortably 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 19 minutes.
During the post-match press conference, the 28-year-old was asked how seriously he was considering retirement not too long ago.
“Yeah, at the time I said it, I was thinking about it, of course. Yeah, it was just more the way things were going. I got injured last year. Still had some troubles with the injury from last year. That was for me like if I have to keep playing with the pain I had, yeah, then there was a chance maybe I would stop playing,” Botic van de Zandschulp said.
“Of course, I will give myself to the end of the year and see how everything was progressing. Yeah, of course, there was a serious thought,” he added.
Zandschulp reached the quarterfinal at the New York Major in 2021 and was the Dutch No. 1 as well. He reached multiple ATP singles finals and achieved a career-high rank of World No. 22 before toppling out of the Top 100 earlier this year.
The Dutchman considered retirement after a devastating first-round loss at the French Open in June. At the time, he stated that he was ‘not looking forward to the matches at all’. However, the 28-year-old continued to push and achieved a huge win in New York.
Carlos Alcaraz expected more ‘free points’ from Botic van de Zandschulp during their US Open 2024 2R clash
During the post-match press conference, Carlos Alcaraz was asked if he felt 100% during the match. The Spaniard commended his opponent and said he was ‘confused’ because the Dutchman did not make too many mistakes.
“First of all he played great. He played really good tennis. I thought he would give me more free points. He didn’t make a lot of mistakes I thought he was going to make.. it was confusing a bit. I didn’t know how to manage or deal with it. I couldn’t increase my level. I think my level stayed the same the whole match,” Carlos Alcaraz said.
The 21-year-old admitted that he made many mistakes but also pointed out that the schedule was ‘tight’. Since June, Carlos Alcaraz has played and won the French Open and the Wimbledon. He also won the silver medal at the Olympics earlier in August. The Spaniard skipped the Canadian Open after the Olympics and felt that break was enough but it was not.
Meanwhile, Botic van de Zandschulp moves on to face 25th seed Jack Draper in the fourth round of the US Open.
