Carlos Alvarez and Novak Djokovic were the betting favorites in the US Open. However, on August 29th, in the first week of the major tournament, Alvarez went down, and Djokovic came down right with him the next day.

Botic Van de Zandschulp, No. 74 in the world, took Alcarez by surprise with his incredible attacks at the net. After eight successful approaches, Alcarez began serving and quickly realized he needed a new tactic. Van de Zandschlup was able to remain calm and collected as he won the first set, 6-1. “I think I played, like, emotionally tonight, stable,” he said in a post-match press conference. Alvarez played the whole match with a bright smile on his face despite his losses.

He served confidently, but Van de Zandschulp could not be harmed. The Dutchman went on to win the match, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4. In a post-match conference, Alvarez responded with confusion, “I have to think about it; I have to learn about it.” He is looking to learn from his experience in the US Open and to come out a better player as a result of his mistakes. Djokovic, the No. 2 seed, stunned his fans with his quick loss in this tournament. After winning the gold in the 2024 Summer Olympics a few weeks prior, Djokovic believes he played some of his worst tennis at the Open, elaborating that it was a miracle he made it to the third round.

Djokovic made error after error, sending balls into the net and long out of bounds.

“I mean on my end, honestly, the way I felt and the way I played from the beginning of this tournament. Third round is a success. I mean, I have played some of the worst tennis I have ever played, honestly, serving by far the worst ever.” said Djokovic in a post-match conference.

With the two big shots out, Jannik Sinner, January’s Australian Open Champion, is set to win the 2024 US Open. However, as Djokovic and Alcarez demonstrated, it’s anyone’s game; maybe this year, an underdog will be the champion.