Third seed Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shocking exit in the second round of the US Open, losing to unseeded Dutchman Botic van der Zandtschulp.
Alcaraz aims to become only the third player in history, following Rod Laver and Rafael Nadal, to win the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year.
But the Spaniard never recovered from a shaky start against world number 74 Van de Zandtschulp, who claimed the best ranking win of his career with a 6-1 7-5 6-4 win.
The loss ended Alcaraz’s 15-game Grand Slam winning streak.
“I was at the same level the whole game, not good enough to win the game, not getting a chance to play, not trying to get a chance,” Alcaraz said.
“I didn’t feel good about hitting the ball. I think I made a lot of mistakes. When I wanted to come back, when I wanted to come back, it was too late.”
The 21-year-old committed 27 errors throughout the match, while van der Zandtjolf committed 21.
“I was a little confused because he didn’t make as many mistakes as I thought he would,” Alcaraz said. “I didn’t know how to handle it.”
Alcaraz, who won silver at the Paris Olympics after losing to Novak Djokovic on Aug. 4, said he needed a longer rest before heading to Flushing Meadows.
“I didn’t come here with as much energy as I thought I would, but I don’t want to use that as an excuse,” he said.
Earlier, world number one Yannick Sinner defeated American Alex Mickelson 6-4 6-0 6-2 to claim his 50th win of the year.
Sinner, the Australian Open champion, said he All wrongs are gone This comes after he tested positive twice for the banned drug earlier this year.
