Ben Pawlowski
CARLOS Alcaraz has suffered the greatest upset of his career so far after the Spaniard crashed out of the US Open in the second round with a straight-sets defeat against the world No.74 Botic van de Zandschulp.
The 21-year-old had been widely tipped to compete for a third Grand Slam title in 2024, which would have made him just the third man in history after Rod Laver and compatriot Rafael Nadal to win the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in the same calendar year.
But those dreams were dashed in spectacular style after the unseeded Dutchman Van de Zandschulp comprehensively defeated Alcaraz 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 for the biggest win of his career.
Alcaraz appeared to struggle to adapt to the hard court surface, making 27 unforced errors during the match and never truly recovering from a below-par start.
The defeat spells an end to the Murcia-born star’s 15-match winning run in Grand Slams, which had included his victories at Roland Garros and SW17.
Reflecting on his performance afterwards, Alcaraz said: “I think my level stayed at the same point all the match, and 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”.
He added: “I didn’t feel well hitting the ball. I think I made a lot of mistakes. When I wanted to come back or I think I wanted to come back, it was too late. He didn’t make a lot of mistakes that I thought he was going to do so I was confused a little bit. I didn’t know how to manage that”.
Alcaraz admitted that he needed a longer break following his silver at the Paris Olympics before heading to Flushing Meadows for the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year.
