Third seeded Carlos Alcaraz bowed out of US Open 2024 as he was stunned by No. 74 Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round on Friday.
World No. 3 Alcaraz went down 1-6, 5-7, 4-6 in a match that lasted two hours and 19 minutes ending his quest to become the only third man tennis player in the Open Era to win the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in the same calendar year.
Carlos Alcaraz’ Bad Day At US Open 2024
The Spaniard stepped into the court with a 2-0 head-to-head win over the Dutchman. However, he went 2-3 down and recovered to 3-3 but was then dejected again in the ninth game.
Alcaraz dropped serve twice in the opening set, failing to hit a single winner against his 28-year-old opponent. He lost break points in the second game of the second set and moments later the Zandschulp achieved a 2-1 lead.
Displaying a lackluster performance, the 21-year-old made 27 unforced errors, won only 60% of his first serve points and just 35% of the points on return.
Carlos Alcaraz was overwhelmed with his emotions after the game. “Today I was playing against the opponent, and I was playing against myself, you know, in my mind,” he said. “I mean, a lot of emotions that I couldn’t control. I was up in some points. Then I lose some points. I get down. It was a rollercoaster, let’s say, in my mind,” he said.
The four-time Grand Slam winner had reached at least the quarter-finals in his three previous appearances in the US Open and the defeat on Thursday was his earliest at a Grand Slam since a second round exit at the 2021 Wimbledon.
Alcaraz’ poor show in New York followed on from a disappointing campaign in Cincinnati where he furiously smashed a racquet calling it the ‘worst match’ of his career. Prior to that, he had lost in the final of the Paris Olympics 2024 against Novak Djokovic.
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However, Alcaraz refused to make any excuse for his underwhelming performance.
“I took a little break after the Olympic Games. I thought it was enough. Probably it wasn’t enough. Probably I came here without as much energy as I thought I was going to (have). “I don’t want to put that as an excuse. I have to think about it and I have to learn about it.”
After his early exit from the US Open, Alcaraz said that will think about changing his game and learn about it.
