Carlos Alcaraz was stunned at the US Open last night as he was emphatically beaten by Botic van de Zandschlup in straight sets.
The mask has moved a little and the world has finally seen that Alcaraz is human and he can in fact be beaten!
Alcaraz has enjoyed a blistering 2024, winning the French Open and Wimbledon titles without breaking too much of a sweat.
The talented youngster was bidding to become the third man – after Rod Laver and Rafael Nadal to win those two titles plus the US Open in the same calendar year.
Alcaraz lost 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to the Dutch player and it ended a 15-match winning streak at Grand Slam tournaments for the Spaniard.
The stunning loss comes after he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the final of the Olympics some weeks ago – and he’s been quizzed on the correlation between the two defeats.
Carlos Alcaraz shares whether Novak Djokovic defeat impact US Open exit
Earlier this month, Djokovic got his hands on the elusive gold medal, beating Alcaraz in the final to essentially complete tennis.
That defeat set Alcaraz back and clearly something wasn’t quite right at this tournament.
No disrespect to Van De Zandschlup but the number three seed shouldn’t be losing to him at this early stage of the final Grand Slam of the year.
Alcaraz doesn’t believe the defeat in Paris impacted his tournament and was at a loss to explain this defeat.
He said in his press conference: Not really. I didn’t think about it too much. Being so close to the gold medal it was difficult for me for a few moments or one hour after the match, but once I realised what I had achieved, the silver medal was a great achievement.
“I was really proud about it and after the moments that I realised I got a silver medal and it was a great achievement I didn’t think about it any more. I am going to say it didn’t affect me any more.”
Alcaraz will be back despite US Open loss
Make no bones about it, this will go down as one of the biggest shocks in the history of tennis.
Van De Zandschlup does have a bit of pedigree at this tournament, reaching the quarter-final in 2021 but as the world number 74, Alcaraz won’t be happy with this outcome.
The Spaniard will be back though. As a young player, defeats will happen and he’s got the minerals to park this and come back even stronger in the future.
Alcaraz can still look back with a lot of fondness this year, winning two major titles and this will only add fire to his belly ahead of future endeavours.
The tournament won’t quite be the same with one of the major players going out this early and it will now be fascinating to see who can lift the trophy in just over a week.
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