Former world No. 22 player expressed his thoughts on considering retirement due to injuries: “At the time I said it, I was thinking about it, of course. It was just more the way things were going. I got injured last year. Still had some troubles with the injury from last year. That was for me like, if I have to keep playing with the pain I had, then there was a chance maybe I would stop playing. Of course, I would give myself to the end of the year and see how everything was progressing. There was a serious thought.”
“I think until 5-4 in the third set, I still had something in the back of my mind that he’s going to come up with something special.”
Botic Van de Zandschulp on Carlos Alcaraz
Van de Zandschulp, who reached the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows three years ago, explained how returning to the Challenger Tour helped him regain his confidence after a tough period: “The tour is tough. If you’re not seeded in a tournament, you can face tough opponents. I needed more confidence in winning matches, so I played more matches in a row after Wimbledon. It gave my confidence a good boost. Here we are now. I was just happy to play more matches, to win more matches.”
“Maybe in a couple of hours or tomorrow I’ll feel a little more emotional about what happened tonight” – Van de Zandschulp
Van de Zandschulp credited his win to playing consistently and staying emotionally stable during the match: “I played unbelievably stable. Even in the third set, I still had something in the back of my mind that he’s going to come up with something special. So, I actually was thinking that the whole match.” He admitted that the shock of his win hadn’t fully sunk in yet.
His next match is against Jack Draper, a tough opponent: “I think a really good player, having a good season this year. It’s going to be a tough match. Looking forward to the rest of the tournament.”
