“II would say, if I had a grade on my own game, I’d have played B or C tennis so far this year,” Ben Shelton said. “I don’t think I’ve played my best tennis this season. I don’t think we’ve seen my peak yet this year.
Sheldon had just left Wimbledon when he told me this. At the same Grand Slam tournament, he played three grueling five-set matches and two doubles matches in one week before losing to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the round of 16. At the beginning of the game, he also suffered a bone injury in his knee and fell during practice. “I’m actually not sure if I’m going to play,” he said.
Last year he lost in the second round and two years ago he stepped onto grass for the first time. Still, Sheldon wasn’t satisfied. “I feel blessed with what I’ve accomplished so far in my career, but I’m obviously not happy with where I am,” he said.
This is Shelton’s second full year of touring. The 6-foot-4 American was about to play tennis at the University of Florida, where he was a junior at the University of Florida coached by his father, when he decided to turn pro. His left-handed serve reached speeds of up to 150 mph, putting spectators sitting on the baseline on high alert, worried that they might catch a stray ball. A rocketing serve, a huge forehand and bring it on! Tailor-made for the raucous tennis courts, he made a surprise run to the quarter-finals at last year’s Australian Open. Then there was the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Open.
This year, he briefly became the No. 1 American man on tour. He is ranked No. 13 in the world heading into Monday’s U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows. With U.S. men’s tennis chronically lacking a Grand Slam, some commentators are watching Ben’s game and wondering: could he be the next great hope for U.S. men’s tennis?
Of course, he has the competitive spirit in him to be the next great thing, and he’s convinced he’s far from his prime. “Even though I don’t feel perfect on the court, the mental aspect, the competitive aspect has been my motivation so far this year,” he said. “How willing I was to stay on the court and fight was to some extent the deciding factor and that helped me in a lot of games at Wimbledon even though I didn’t play my best.”
timeHis scathing assessment of his game was at odds with the 21-year-old I interviewed a week later at the Citi Open in Mubadala, Washington, DC. Shelton was laughing with his team as he left the tag team ring to fulfill his media obligations. It had been a long day: twice rain delayed his race, which ended in failure until the evening. We sat in the corner of the couch in the players’ area and he took a minute to fill me in on the joke that pissed them off. Although it wasn’t pretty, he started laughing again, and I couldn’t help but laugh along with him.
“Sorry, we were still kids,” he said, throwing his friend under the bus. “I’m sorry,” he said, a dimpled smile on his face. He draped a towel over his broad shoulders, accepted his second postgame protein shake from his coach, and prepared to talk tennis.
Sheldon came late to care about the sport of tennis, a sport that most kids specialize in at an early age and often burn out. Early on, he defied the legacy of his father, Brian Shelton, a former pro, and his mother, a senior.
“I thought tennis was a boring sport. Football, basketball and baseball were the coolest sports in America. So those were the things I was obsessed with as a kid. But here we are,” he said with a laugh.
His attitude changed when he saw his sister missing school to compete. He was 13 years old at the time. coach.
“I was very underdeveloped when I went to college. There were a lot of holes in my game,” he said. “I was kind of a psychopath on the court, I got angry easily. But you know, when you don’t do the right thing on a college team, when your dad was the coach, you got punished a lot harsher than anyone else on the team. Much. I quickly learned how to smooth things out, figure out how to be a good teammate, fly under the radar when needed, and reduce those instances of outbursts or bad practices or missed workouts because I slept in.
What are those penalties? “He would attack me more than others and scream at me, but I understand because you can’t show favoritism. Or if I’m late, I have to sprint in front of everyone, but if someone else Being late, then I’m late too, I’ll run more sprints than them.
But he appreciates the team’s control over him. “I think tennis can be a selfish sport and a lot of people think the world revolves around them being a professional tennis player because your team caters to you and the game caters to you and everything.”
“But I have the opportunity to play in a team and support my teammates and even sit on the bench sometimes and let other people take the credit. I think that helps me a lot personally, sometimes on the tennis tour, Things get tough because you’re playing alone here and I really miss the team spirit of college and then other team sports.
Shelton toured for a year before his father joined. Shelton said his father had calmed down, and the elder Shelton was calm during the game, in contrast to the younger Shelton’s raucous celebrations after scoring. But it’s clear they’re speaking the same language: Brian offers a sentence or two of advice, and Ben is already nodding, ready to move on to the next point.
“His ability to adapt makes him a great coach,” Shelton said. “He doesn’t have to be talking in my ear or just sitting back and watching. He does both. He reads me, understands what I need in the moment, and when he thinks I’ll use the information, he presents it to me. Provide information. When he thinks I got it myself, he will take some back.
There’s an advantage to starting late, even in holes in games: Shelton is always chasing better players.
“It gives me a chaser or hunter mentality,” he said. “I’ve never been the best at my age. There’s always someone to chase, there’s always room for improvement, there’s always someone who’s doing better than me. So I don’t think I’ve ever been complacent or thought I was too good. unable to continue working hard.
Today, Shelton is still chasing better competition, but he trusts the process. “I’m not the complete player I want to be yet, so I’m okay with what some people say is taking a step back to continue to improve,” he said.
He listed the parts of his game he’s currently working on: movement, return, serve and overall shot tolerance. “When I’m moving really well, I usually play really well, but it’s not 100 percent for me yet,” he said. He admitted that returning serve “used to be a burden.” Without the serve, his game wouldn’t be what it is now – “a weapon that needs to continue to improve.”
His points have been longer and he’s won more points. He’s working on getting to the net more, utilizing his weapons, and he’s hitting doubles to get reps.
He credits the mental aspect of being able to get so deep into the tournament this year. “Once the physical side and the real tennis starts to follow, I think I’ll be in a really good position.”
SDuring the Olympics, Helton stayed in the United States to begin the hard-court season, while the others traveled to Paris to compete on clay. It’s a choice some players make for money or points: many of the best players at the Olympics represent their countries, and those who play on tour have a better chance of going far in the tournament. I asked him why he stayed.
“I’m not really motivated to play tennis because of the points or the prize money. I love playing in front of a big crowd. I love playing against the greatest players or playing against the best players in the biggest tournaments. The Olympics are definitely one Attractive tournament, I really want to play. But for me it’s just – I don’t want to go back to Europe,” he said with a smile. “This season is so long.”
It’s hard to remember that this competitor is new to the circuit. “I had never left the country until last year,” he said.
Instead, Shelton stayed in the United States ahead of the U.S. Open, trying to find his groove. He admits he’s the kind of guy who needs a few weeks to find his groove on a new surface. “I almost didn’t win anything in the four tournaments before last year’s Open,” he said. “Everyone was talking about me not winning two games in a row in the middle of the year.”
This year, he improved his hard-court record ahead of the U.S. Open. At the Washington Open, he reached the semifinals. At the Cincinnati Open, he reached the quarterfinals. But the first game of this hard-court match didn’t get off to a smooth start. Shelton lost to the world No. 89 in his first match at the Atlanta Open. What a disappointment. It laid the foundation for him to achieve good results as the top seed. But Sheldon took it all in stride.
“It took me a lot of time to hit the panic button and I’m 21. I don’t have much to worry about. Tennis is about 52 weeks, not a match,” he said.
“I want my effort and competitiveness to be consistent. I want my game to keep improving. But that doesn’t mean results every week,” he said. “Great players are learning every week how to get things done, no matter how they feel, and that’s what I’m working on, but I think it takes a lot of experience.”
