Botic van de Zandschulp after injury without high expectations to US Open: ‘I have to be realistic’ | Tennis

Shortly after the tournament in England, Van de Zandschulp injured his left ankle. He landed wrong during a training with hurdles. An exercise that he says he had done ‘thousands of times’. The damage? A thick ankle and an almost torn ankle ligament. As a result, he missed a number of clay court tournaments and two master tournaments in Cincinnati and Toronto.

,,I had just been home for two weeks before my injury and suddenly four were added. For three weeks I was in a soft case, flexible cast. The advice was to keep my leg up as much as possible so I spent a lot of time at home. At a certain point I was a bit done with it again”, says Van de Zandschulp. “Here in America we have really only started training seriously again.”

“It’s actually getting better every day, but I’m trying to build it up slowly. Otherwise you run the risk of falling from injury into injury. In the past week I have been able to work much more physically and also make some more training hours, also in terms of endurance. I have to say that the training sessions are going well, but competitions are always different. But I have to be realistic and realize that it will take some time again before I can play my best tennis. I need another two or three weeks for that.”

On Tuesday, the Australian Jordan Thompson is his opponent. “He is a hard worker and he has a lot in return,” says the Dutchman. “He is having an incredible season and he is feeling great. It will be a tough task.” It is estimated that his match on court eight will start around 8:15 PM Dutch time.

Last year, Van de Zandschulp failed in the second round in New York. He then lost to Frenchman Corentin Moutet.