As Botic van de Zandschulp sails to SF, a quiet Dutch island among sea of Indian fans say their impromptu visit paid off

Botic van de Zandschulp has never played in India before and the country seems to have warmed to the Dutch tennis player. With each point he won against qualifier Maximilian Marterer in the quarter-final match, numerous Indian fans cheered and whistled. Among the Indians, were three Dutch fans too, who had caught their fellow countryman’s name on news and decided to drop by. As Botic won 6-4, 6-2, the Dutch national flag unfurled before him and an elderly group looked elated.

It wasn’t the 27-year-old’s first match in this edition of the Pune event. After having lost in his doubles opener alongside Rohan Bopanna on Centre Court on Wednesday, he beat qualifier Flavio Cobolli 7-5, 6-4, in his first singles tie, in the Round of 16. He had earlier received a bye in the first round.

“We saw in the news that Botic would play here. We wanted to see him and he won! He did a fantastic job. So we are really happy for him and for ourselves,” said Jose Durville, who presently lives in Pune for work.

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Botic has a calm demeanuor. He sauntered into the court as the announcer called out his name for the quarter-final match against qualifier Maximilian Marterer, gave a gentle wave at the Pune crowd, many of whom were there to support the second seed, and then unmindfully twirled the racquet on his finger as he walked towards the umpire and his opponent. The same composed attitude reflects in his game as well and probably rubbed off a bit on his fans too, who, unlike other fans, sat quietly in their seats, enjoying Botic’s dominance over his German opponent. No fist pumps. No ‘Botic’ chants. All until the world No. 35 was ready to serve for the match, from the same end, adjacent to their sitting area.

“Not really,” Jose said smiling when asked if their quiet enjoyment meant they expected an easy win for Botic. “You never know how it is going to end. In the beginning, you need to be relaxed. We were calm like he is. We maybe knew that he was going to get it. That is why we were cheering for him.”

She was, however, at a loss of words when trying to express how Botic’s level-headed nature impressed her the most in the game. And Maarten Durville, who has been working as managing director at GKN Fokker Elmo India for over three years in Pune, jumped into the conversation to complete the rest. “He is very relaxed on the court. He was cool, calm and collected in the entire match. Marterer in the beginning hit the balls very hard but he just kept on going and by keeping the score he won the match.”

Maarten, who is an avid tennis follower, did rightly point out Marterer’s aggressive start and ploy to keep the points short. But Botic remained spot on with his serve, not conceding a single break point, and adding pressure on the world no. 159 before he succumbed in the ninth game. Botic converted the break and wrapped up the first set. Marterer failed to recover from there on, as he was broke twice in the second set.

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Botic now moves into the semis, two away from what could be his maiden ATP title haul, and presently stands as the favourite to grab the Tata Open trophy after top seed Marin Cilic pulled out of the event earlier in the evening with a knee injury. But he won’t be the only player from Netherlands in the semis. Tallon Griekspoor, who received a walkover into the semis after Cilic’s withdrawal, stands in the other end of the draw. It could have been an all-Dutch affair in the semis, only for Aslan Karatsev to deny the opportunity to 21-year-old Tim van Rijthoven, who lost in the Round of 16.

“There are a lot of good players at the moment. In almost every village you can play tennis. It is a big sport like soccer and hockey,” Jose said, talking about the culture of tennis in the Netherlands.

Botic is probably the biggest tennis sensation in the country since Richard Krajicek, who remains Netherlands’ only Grand Slam winner in men’s singles with his 1996 Wimbledon haul.

“He is a big star there,” Jose said.

“He is doing really well. He is the best player we have had in a long time. There were two others – Griekspoor and Rijthoven – also doing quite well but basically Botic is the frontrunner again. We have had a bit of a drought in terms of players recently. I hope Botic maintains this level and reaches the top 10 soon,” Maarten added.

Would they have travelled to Australia as well for the first Grand Slam of the season? When asked, Maarten said, “This was just round the corner and Australia is a bit too far from here” and laughed.