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Up next for Alcaraz is 2021 quarter-finalist Botic van de Zandschulp, who beat Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. The Dutchman won 61 per cent of his second-serve return points and committed 33 unforced errors, compared to the Canadian’s 52.
Botic says this first impression of Alcaraz was 'insane'
Spoiler:
Dutchman details feet injuries
August 29, 2024
Botic van de Zandschulp reaches the second round of the US Open for the fourth consecutive year.
Luke Hales/Getty Images
Botic van de Zandschulp reaches the second round of the US Open for the fourth consecutive year.
By Andrew Eichenholz
Three years ago, Botic van de Zandschulp faced Carlos Alcaraz for the first time in the first round of the Australian Open. Both players were qualifiers, new on the scene, and their clash was on an outer court at Melbourne Park. Van de Zandschulp was No. 151 in the PIF ATP Rankings and Alcaraz, then 17, was not much higher at No. 141.
“What I was most impressed about was how he started. He was fully pumped, aggressive in a good way. That took me a little bit off actually, I had never played him,” van de Zandschulp told ATPTour.com. “Of course I’d seen him play and you hear all the talk about him. But that’s what I was most impressed about: the ferocity he was playing with, how he was hitting, the power he had. That was insane.”
Alcaraz won the match 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 and they will meet again at a major on Thursday in the second round of the US Open. This time, the Spaniard will walk on court a four-time Grand Slam champion.
“It’s always nice to compare yourself to players like Alcaraz, Djokovic, Sinner. I played Sinner for example twice this year. First time, it’s nice. Second time in the first round, you think, ‘Man, maybe a little better later in the tournament?’” van de Zandschulp said. “But it’s always interesting to play these guys because I think after the match, you always know where you have to get better — which kind of situations, what kind of shots. I think you can learn a lot from those matches.”
Watch Alcaraz-van de Zandschulp 2022 Basel Highlights:
It is a big opportunity for a player who has not faced a Top 10 player since April. It has not been an easy year and a half for the Dutchman, who has struggled regaining form and momentum after dealing with feet issues.
“Last year, I had way more serious injuries than this year. In April [of last year], I got a bone bruise on the left foot. Then I twisted my ankle. The bone bruise took a while, [it was] tough to get in my shoe with the bone bruise,” van de Zandschulp said. “Then afterwards, I [had] finally recovered, I twisted my ankle and tore my ligament. Same foot.”
The pain was difficult to deal with. Van de Zandschulp said: “I tried everything, like not tying all the shoelaces, maybe leaving something in between. It’s constant pressure. If you tie the shoe tight, it’s constant pressure on top of the foot. You feel it for a while.
“They probably thought I hit a nerve, like there was a nerve damaged as well, and a nerve takes ages to recover. It’s constant pain, constant something there. Of course some guys are better at playing in these kinds of pains I think. But for me, it was really the first time I really had something, so for me it was pretty difficult.”
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The Dutchman explained that he returned “a little too early” because he wanted to play at the US Open. He eventually recovered in October, but it was a series of events that set him back in the longer term.
“I got an infection on the right foot. So yeah, all with the foot last year,” van de Zandschulp said. “I have to say it took a while before you start feeling 100 per cent confident in the foot. That took me a while.”
Van de Zandschulp was healthy by the end of the year, but with the injury came a fall in the PIF ATP Rankings. The former World No. 22 fell as low as No. 115 this April and that led to more difficult early-round matches and a drop in confidence.
“Then you can lose a lot. If you play good guys, I think everybody is playing unbelievably well on the Tour,” van de Zandschulp said. “It’s not that common that you always win matches on the Tour. So then of course I think it’s a little bit tougher, if you week-in, week-out for four or five weeks, you don’t win a lot of matches, you just practise. Then of course it’s tough.”
Van de Zandschulp is back to World No. 74 after a string of success on the ATP Challenger Tour, reaching two finals since the start of July. Now the 28-year-old will face Alcaraz for the third time in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and the first time since 2022 in Basel, where the Spaniard triumphed 6-4, 6-2.
“How he went from Australia to Basel in one and a half, maybe two years, he was such a complete player,” van de Zandschulp said. “In Basel when I played him, you never knew what to expect. He could play serve and volley, he could do everything with the ball. For me, that was a completely different match than in Australia.”
Botic’s big night: Dutchman stuns Alcaraz at US Open
Spoiler:
The 28-year-old claims highest-ranked win of his career
August 30, 2024
Botic van de Zandschulp during Thursday's action at the US Open.
Charly Triballeau/AFP vía Getty Images
Botic van de Zandschulp during Thursday's action at the US Open.
By ATP Staff
Botic van de Zandschulp scored one of the biggest upsets in recent memory Thursday when he stunned 2022 champion Carlos Alcaraz 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 in the US Open second round, spoiling the Spaniard’s hopes of a third consecutive major title.
The World No. 74 in the PIF ATP Rankings struck the ball with conviction and looked for early opportunities to move forward and disrupt the Spaniard’s usual baseline rhythm. By defeating the World No. 3, the Dutchman earned the highest-ranked win of his career.
"I'm a little bit lost for words. It's been an incredible evening, the first night session for me on Arthur Ashe. The crowd was amazing," van de Zandschulp said.
"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."
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Alcaraz suffered his first loss in the second round of a major since 2021 at Wimbledon, where the then-World No. 75 fell to second seed Daniil Medvedev. The 15-time tour-level titlist committed 27 unforced errors, 12 of which came on his forehand, several missing by a great distance.
Van de Zandschulp came flying out of the blocks and rarely looked back. He skillfully absorbed the heavy hitting of Alcaraz, who did not hit a winner throughout the first set.
"I was defending well and I think I saw some of the stats: I won an unbelievable amount of points at the net," said van de Zandschulp, who converted 28 of his 35 net points. "My coach wanted me to be a little more aggressive and I think I did it really well today."
While the four-time major champion struggled to find a successful ‘plan B’ when he was unable to overpower van de Zandschulp, it was the 28-year-old who refused to give Alcaraz free points on return. Van de Zandschulp, who won 43 per cent of his return points, earned a decisive break at 5-5 in the second set and served out the set to love.
The tension rose inside Arthur Ashe Stadium when van de Zandschulp let slip a break lead in the third set at 3-2, during which he double faulted down break point. Alcaraz then asked for support from the crowd and flashed several large smiles in the heat of battle, as if to say he was enjoying the late-night fight.
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But the 2021 quarter-finalist, who reached the last eight that year as a qualifier, remained levelheaded. Van de Zandschulp rose to the occasion, earning a crucial break at 4-4 in the third set and serving out the two-hour, 19-minute match to love.
"Of course I had some nerves. But if you want to beat one of these guys you have to be unbelievably calm and keep your head there, otherwise they will take advantage," said van de Zandschulp, who won 78 per cent of his first-serve points, compared to Alcaraz's 60 per cent.
Van de Zandschulp improved to 1-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Alcaraz. He will next play 25th seed Jack Draper in the third round Saturday.
Last week, van de Zandschulp lost in the first round of the Winston-Salem Open, his first hard-court tournament since Miami in March. The former World No. 22's most recent tour-level win before New York came on the Gstaad clay in mid-July. He entered Thursday's match with a 6-10 season record on hard courts.
Alcaraz leaves the season’s final major with a 39-9 match record this year. The 21-year-old has won three titles in 2024: Indian Wells, Roland Garros and Wimbledon. He also claimed the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. Alcaraz has now lost three of his past four matches.
