Not many players can say they have beaten Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.
Alongside Roger Federer, Djokovic and Nadal dominated the ATP Tour in the late 2000s and throughout the 2010s.
With two of the big three in Nadal and Federer now retired from tennis, it has seen the emergence of another Spanish superstar in Alcaraz.
Alcaraz is the current world number one and has already won six Grand Slam titles at 22 years old.
However, other than their impressive achievements on the tennis court, Alcaraz, Nadal and Djokovic have all lost to an ATP player who has never been ranked inside the top 20.
Photo by Marleen Fouchier/BSR Agency/Getty ImagesBotic van de Zandschulp: The ATP player who has wins over Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz
That player is Botic van de Zandschulp, the 29-year-old Dutchman who has a career-high ranking of world number 22.
Van de Zandschulp has achieved some impressive things in his tennis career, including reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open in 2021 and being a Davis Cup finalist with The Netherlands in 2024.
However, in recent years he has actually become more associated with his shock victories over top ATP players.
This all began at the 2024 US Open, where Van de Zandschulp set up a second round meeting with the aforementioned Alcaraz after beating Denis Shapovalov in his second round match.
As the reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion, Alcaraz was by far the favourite to beat Van de Zandschulp, who was the world number 74 at the time.
It almost felt as if everyone had counted the Dutchman out, but Van de Zandschulp was able to stun Alcaraz after beating him in straight sets to cause his earliest Grand Slam exit in over three years.
This victory was made even more impressive by the fact that Van de Zandschulp had been considering retirement just months prior.
Van de Zandschulp would only win three of his next 10 matches after his shock victory in New York, but Alcaraz was not the only big name Spaniard he would upset in 2024.
The Davis Cup Finals in Malaga were announced as the retirement tournament of Nadal last year, and all eyes were on the 22-time Grand Slam champion.
Spain were drawn to play against the Netherlands, with Nadal being selected for singles against Dutch number two Van de Zandschulp.
Despite all the attention being on his opponent, Van de Zandschulp beat Nadal in straight sets in what turned out to be the final match of the former world number one’s career.
Following his two standout victories last year, Van de Zandschulp made a slow start to the 2025 season and did not win his first match until midway through February.
However, big things were still to come for him at Indian Wells, with Van de Zandschulp beating Djokovic as a lucky loser to claim another big name scalp.
After beating all three of these multiple-time Grand Slam champions, Van de Zandschulp suggested Alcaraz was the toughest opponent.
Van de Zandschulp may have these memorable victories to his name, but he is still yet to win a title on the ATP Tour.
Why has Botic van de Zandschulp never won an ATP title?
You would expect that someone who is able to beat Alcaraz, Nadal and Djokovic within the space of seven months would have the ability to lift multiple ATP titles, but Van de Zandschulp is yet to win one.
That is not to say that he has not had opportunities to do so, with Van de Zandschulp reaching three ATP finals in his career.
Two of those were at the BMW Open in Munich against Holger Rune, with very different outcomes for Van de Zandschulp.
The first of those saw him retiring in the first set due to injury, whereas Van de Zandschulp was inches away from glory in the second final after being unable to take his four championship points from 5-2 up in the deciding set.
Van de Zandschulp’s most recent final came in August this year, where he was beaten in straight sets by Marton Fucsovics on the hard courts of Winston-Salem.
YearTournamentFinal Result2022BMW Open (Munich)Holger Rune beat Van de Zandschulp, 4-3 (Van de Zandschulp retired)2023BMW Open (Munich)Holger Rune beat Van de Zandschulp, 6-4 1-6 7-6(3)2025Winston-Salem OpenMarton Fucsovics beat Van de Zandschulp, 6-3 7-6(3)
While he is not the highest ranked ATP player never to win a title, Van de Zandschulp is certainly one of the better players never to win any silverware.
Van de Zandschulp is currently the world number 84 and will need a boost in form if he is to break his title drought anytime soon.