Botic van de Zandschulp suffered another inglorious defeat in the opening round at Roland Garros on Sunday. The world number 89 had to acknowledge his better in the American wildcard player Emilio Nava in three sets: 2-6, 5-7 and 5-7.
Van de Zandschulp got off to a bad start in the match on court 7 and failed to win a point in his first service game. It proved to be the prelude to a difficult opening phase in which the 29-year-old from Veenendaal made many unnecessary mistakes.
It became clear that Van de Zandschulp has not played any matches in recent weeks and that he was on the court with little confidence. In the run-up to Roland Garros, Van de Zandschulp suffered from an arm injury. He also played his match with a sleeve around his right arm.
After a hopeless loss of the first set, the Dutchman fell behind 3-0 in the second set. Van de Zandschulp managed to fight his way back into the set, but a sloppy game at 6-5 still cost him the set. Van de Zandschulp could not control his frustrations and smashed a racket to pieces.
In the third set, the number 2 of the Netherlands was unable to turn the match around. He was able to keep pace until 5-5, but at 6-5 he was broken for the sixth time. Van de Zandschulp ended the match with a backhand that went wide.
Nava is number 137 in the world. He received a wildcard through the collaboration between the French and American tennis federations, the organizer of the US Open.
It is the third year in a row that Van de Zandschulp has failed to get through the opening round in Paris. In 2022 he reached the third round, in which he lost to Rafael Nadal.
Last year, Van de Zandschulp lost hopelessly in Paris to the Italian Fabio Fognini. Then it was 6-1, 6-1 and 7-5. After that match, Van de Zandschulp indicated that he doubted whether to continue his career.