Botic van De Zandschulp Press Conference 2024 US Open Round 2

to us about your level of play tonight and when you thought that you were going to be able to continue that level of play for as long as it took to win the match um yeah I think I played like emot emotional tonight uh stable also during my play I think I played unbelievable stable um yeah you you're going to think every time when when I won the first set for example you're going to think like he coming up with a yeah he's one of the best players in the world and he's coming up with a different level and then I actually broke him already quite soon in the in the second set got broken back but yeah then it went went on to five all and yeah I served it out uh pretty good and then in the third even in the third you're thinking like he's going to come up with with something special and yeah I broke him again pretty quick uh got broken again back but uh yeah I think till 54 in the in the third I still had like yeah still had like something in the back of my mind like maybe he's come G to come up with something special so yeah I I actually was thinking that the whole match well tremendous win congratulations thank you questions it's late in the back congratulations I know maybe it wasn't him at his best we don't know but what's it actually like facing Carlos like how how difficult is it and what makes it so difficult what makes him so special yeah I think he's playing unbelievable aggressive um he's trying to come forward a lot and yeah today I tried to beat him to the punch a little bit there uh I tried to come in a lot to the net um so he wasn't able to um yeah I think I did a good job there but uh yeah he's someone who can do everything like when he gets a shot on the for end he can play the drop shot he can yeah go for the winner go inside out go inside in so yeah I think he's doing he can do everything with the tennis ball and that is yeah what's facing him is unbelievable tough toan car from the guardian uh back in at Roland G after you lost there there were some quotes that said from you that you were thinking of stopping maybe I'm curious how are you feeling back then and and what has it taken like the journey from then to now to get to a point where you could be aqu at this stage uh yeah that's that's correct that was in was in Rolling R Ross um After Rolling R Ross I took uh took couple weeks I I didn't play for a couple weeks and played in wimon again um and from that point on I played a little bit more tournaments in Europe um yeah you know the the tour is is tough it you can play well but you can only play like two matches a week if you play well for example um yeah um if you if you're not seated in the tournaments yeah you can face for example sinner sinner first round sinner first round you can play yeah you can play tough opponents and yeah you can play well but then still in the end you will lose a lot of lose a lot of matches um so yeah I need a little bit more more confidence in winning matches playing more matches so that's something I did um after WI I played couple challengers in Holland uh not in Holland but in Europe I mean um yeah try to try to play more matches in a row um and I think that gave my confidence a good boost and yeah here we here we are now really was it tough like initially kind of getting your head around going back to challenges after breaking through into top uh yeah of course um but I think it's I already had the tough part behind me um dropping from yeah 25 to dropping to 70 I think uh not being seated um yeah and I was just happy to to play more matches um to win more matches so actually yeah of course it's it's different than than the at than the ATP um to play some challenges but yeah if I look back on it it wasn't wasn't really hard for me okay what considerations were you giving to retirement how seriously were you considering it and how do you look back on that period right now um yeah at the time I I I said it I was I was thinking about it of course um yeah was just a more um the way the way things were going uh got injured last year still had some troubles with the injury from last year um and that was for me like if I have to keep playing with yeah with the pain I had um yeah then the then there was a was a chance maybe I would stop uh playing of course I would give myself to the end of the year and see how everything was Pro yeah progressing but um yeah of course that was a serious thought and how do you look back on that now given what occurred tonight and what emotions are you EXP experiencing right now actually right now not not not so many uh I'm still uh yeah maybe I'm still processing it um maybe in couple hours or tomorrow I feel feel a little bit more emotional with uh with what happened tonight but um yeah back to the back when I said it maybe I'm I'm thinking about retiring at at that point I was I was just being honest last question congrats on the win you've had previous matchups with Carlos it sounds like you're very familiar with this game I wondering what you felt was different from him today if anything and the positive takeaways you have beating him to the punch getting to the net early are those things you want to apply in your matches going forward um yeah what was different today um I think I played a little bit different today um normally when he's striking the ball you feel like the ball is coming with such impact um so you get stressed a little bit like I want to hit harder or it's tough to control the ball that's what I felt like when I played him in Bas and Australian Open um I think today I had a way better composure during yeah during the hitting um so yeah I think that was that was the biggest difference for me um and sorry what was the just the lessons you had from getting to the net before he could yeah yeah I think that's something in my game uh when I'm playing well I'm coming a lot forward to the net um yeah sometimes you have tough H sometimes it's just a put away but uh yeah I think it suits my game really well um and when I'm playing like this I I think I'm like confident in my own in my own game thank you that's one more thing looking ahead because one question cuz we have n been as late sure just looking ahead given what you just accomplished what are your thoughts about the next match and the rest of the tournament uh yeah I think all the all the matchups are tough of course um I think next round is Jack Draper uh I think a really good player having a good season this year uh big serve and big stroke so it's going to be uh yeah it's going to be again a really tough tough match um yeah looking forward to the rest of the tournament of course I think everybody in the draw who's still left in the draw are amazing players um so yeah I think every matchup is going to be a tough matchup okay thank you