Behind the scenes of Botic's shocking upset against Alcaraz

The upset of the year began in an Italian restaurant in Manhattan. Botic van de Zandschulp and his team enjoyed a meal Wednesday evening at the same restaurant they’ve been going to throughout their stay in New York. Little did they know the next day their world would be flipped upside down like pizza dough.

Van de Zandschulp stunned four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday evening in the second round of the US Open for the biggest win of his career. According to his coach, Peter Lucassen, there was not much different for the Dutchman compared to the typical match.

“Honestly, [we were] just going over the same things. Watching the film, and a lot was about his own game, his own mentality, his own mindset out there. That was the biggest thing,” Lucassen said. “I think Botic could control that and wanted to control that, so that was the biggest thing. And of course, playing somebody like Alcaraz, he knew he had to bring his best, and I think that's what he did. He did a great job of that, controlling everything that he can do really well.”

Thursday morning, van de Zandschulp went to the gym, which is typical for the 28-year-old the morning of an evening match. The No. 74 player in the PIF ATP Rankings travelled to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center later in the day, when he practised inside Arthur Ashe Stadium at 6 p.m.

“The way he warmed up already there on Ashe, he was hitting the ball great. He was moving great. He was controlling himself really well, so it was great to see,” Lucassen said. “And he was open-minded, so that was all good.”

The men’s singles match was second during the evening session after Karolina Muchova defeated Naomi Osaka. The latter served for the second set of their match and held a 40/0 lead, but was unable to close out. Muchova triumphed in straight sets.

“He is so focused and so prepared himself. So already in the second set, a few games in, we went to gym, and he was doing his warmup and all that,” Lucassen said. “We were all ready to go and then for a moment, we were thinking, ‘Okay, this is going three, let's relax’. But then it turned around, and he was ready to go.”

In his pre-match interview just before walking onto the biggest tennis-only stadium in the world, van de Zandschulp shared his opinion that he would need help from Alcaraz. The Dutchman had a message from his team, including Dutch Davis Cup captain Paul Haarhuis.

“To be aggressive, to play his own game, and try to, when you get a chance, take the opportunity to go forward and to try and get in, not wait for him to play his game too much and depend on him, or to hope that he makes a mistake,” Haarhuis said. “This level from these guys is too good for hoping. You’ve got to bring it to him, and you’ve got to take it to him, and that's what we told him.”

Peter Lucassen and Paul Haarhuis. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.
Van de Zandschulp did just that and never took his foot off the gas in the second-round match. Champions often find a way to dig out of deficits, but Alcaraz was never able to turn around the match.

“Second set I was thinking, ‘Okay, he's playing this well now, Alcaraz will have to play three extremely good sets to turn it around’,” Haarhuis recalled. “He can play maybe one good set, he can play two sets, but then you're still alive, and it's only the fifth set. So at that moment, I felt, ‘Well, we could see a big upset here’.”

Haarhuis is plenty familiar with big upsets at the US Open. In the 1991 third round he stunned World No. 1 Boris Becker. Two years earlier, the then-World No. 115 ousted World No. 4 John McEnroe in the second round.

“When I played McEnroe a couple years before, in ‘89, I had no clue what to expect. Was I going to win a couple games? Was I going to make it a serious match?” Haarhuis said. “Then to win one set against this guy, maybe I can win two sets. I won two sets, maybe I can win three sets. I ended up winning in four sets and that changed my tennis career, because from that moment on, I felt anybody that I play, if I play well, I can beat them.

“I think that will also do this for Botic, thinking, ‘I’ve got this level in me. So basically, I don't have to be afraid of anybody’. Alcaraz really played well yesterday, Botic just played better. So he should believe that every time he steps on the court and puts out his best performance, he can beat anybody.”

Lucassen explained that, “We all know Botic is not the type of guy that will lay on the ground or bring all the fist pumps whatsoever". But the coach said that after the match the Dutchman was “really proud of himself”.

The team returned to their hotel at around 2:30 a.m., slept until 8:30 a.m. and refocused for the rest of the tournament. Van de Zandschulp will next play 25th seed Jack Draper to reach his second US Open fourth round.

“I think the big thing is taking the good energy he created from this, trying to take that into the next match tomorrow,” Lucassen said. “It's right now 0-0 again in the next match, and Draper obviously is a great player. They’ve practised a tonne together. They know each well, never played in a real match. But it’s going to be again a new total battle out there.”