Unseeded Botic van de Zandschulp upset world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4, during the second round of the 2024 US Open Thursday night at Flushing Meadows. The heavy favorite had a shaky start, and while he did fight back he did not appear ready for the tough mental and physical battle on this night.
At 28 years old, van de Zandschulp has been considering retiring because he hasn't played well lately. Meanwhile, 21-year-old Alcaraz had won 43 of his last 46 major matches, including the championship matches at the French Open and Wimbledon. But none of that mattered on Thursday.
"I don't know what to say right now," said a stunned Alcaraz after the loss. "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 that I thought he was going to make. It was confusing a bit. I didn't know how to manage that, how deal with it.
"I couldn't increase my level. I think my level stayed the same the whole match," the Spaniard continued. "It wasn't enough to win the match or to give myself the chance to get into the match, or try to give myself chances. What can I say? I didn't feel well hitting the ball. I made a lot of mistakes. When I wanted to come back it was too late."
van de Zandschulp seemed to be just as stunned as everyone else. "I'm a little bit lost for words," he said in his post-match interview, "but it has been an incredible evening here."
This was his first ever win against a top 10 opponent in a Grand Slam, and probably one of the biggest upsets in tennis history.
Botic van de Zandschulp just knocked Carlos Alcaraz out of the US Open! pic.twitter.com/QK3ZrkoPgx
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 30, 2024
It only took Botic van de Zandschulp 31 minutes to win the first set 6-1. The stats were displayed at Arthur Ashe Stadium and Alcaraz looked at them in disbelief. He didn't get a single winner and had eight unforced errors.
"Of course I had some nerves, but I think if you want to beat one of these guys, you have to keep your calm and keep your head there," van de Zandschulp said. "Otherwise, they take advantage of it."
Alcaraz started looking better, but van de Zandschulp continued playing at a high level and came out on top after an hour-long second set. After losing that one, Alcaraz left the court to try to reset while looking like his head wasn't quite in it.
The loss was Alcaraz's third setback in the month of August following defeats in the Cincinnati Open to Gael Monfils on Aug. 15 and the Olympic gold medal match to Novak Djokovic in Paris on Aug. 4. After the match, he was asked if he thought that fatigue could also have played a role.
"Probably, yeah," he said. "The tennis schedule is so tight. I've been playing a lot of matches lately with Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Olympic Games. I took a little break after the Olympic Games. I thought it was enough ... Probably it wasn't enough ... But I don't want to use that as an excuse."
Alcaraz is known for his athleticism and creative shots, and going forward he said he will need to evaluate whether he needs to take more time off heading into majors. Regardless, van de Zandschulp's matched Alcaraz's energy all night long.
It looked like the break Alcaraz took helped him regain some composure. When he tied the third set 3-3, the crowd cheered loudly for him and his signature smile started returning to his face and he won the next game. It seemed he could potentially turn things around, but van de Zandschulp had other plans.
He hit the fastest serve of the match at 132 mph when he got the ace that tied things up again at 4-4. The crowd started the match favoring Alcaraz, but by the end of the night they were also showing a lot of love for the Dutch player. In total, van de Zandschulp needed only two hours and 21 minutes.
The furthest a Dutch player has ever advanced in a major was the quarterfinals in the 2021 US Open. van de Zandschulp will now try to take the next step against No. 25 seed Jack Draper in the third round.
