“I want to be different from everyone else,” Ben Shelton said recently in Madrid.
He was actually talking about last year’s decision to sign a major deal with On, a small but growing Swiss footwear and apparel maker, rather than go after some American giant bearing the famous Nike logo. (More on that later.) The Floridian is in the early stages of a three-month stay in Europe that will be as long as his stay at Wimbledon, which ends in mid-July.
But the 21-year-old Shelton could have talked about anything to do with his fledgling tennis career, which was the opposite of cookie-cutter.
Football (American), except tennis, until middle school? different.
A regular high school instead of a tennis academy? different.
Zero Grand Slam appearances for a junior? different.
The prime expression of collegiate energy: “Yeah!” the exclamation mark of the hang-up on his victory after retirement after shots big and small? different.
Now that the clay court has arrived, Shelton is once again swimming against the tide, heading on to Rome and the Italian Open, and he sees last week’s third-round loss in Spain as another step toward solving a problem that confuses most Americans. a period of time.
That’s red clay.
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Shelton reached the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Open, and the ease and brutality of his tennis can be deceptive.
He can serve like no one at 150 mph (241 km/h) and hit a rocketing forehand to score in one shot or steal momentum from a match.
AAt first glance, this gives him a stereotypical, big American game that doesn’t translate easily to dirt. Other famous Yankees with these traits have basically held their noses and endured these months of attritional tennis, counting the days until summer’s grass and hard courts.
Well, that’s not the case with Sheldon.
He spent two weeks at a hardcore clay-court training camp before departing for Spain. “I work on what I need to do: on the court, off the court, strength, health, mobility,” he said. “I just really grinded it out.
Instead of enduring the soft stuff, Sheldon embraces it.This is something other American men have traditionally avoided, including His own father and coach, Bryan, was a tour pro in the 1980s and 1990s. For most of his career, with the exception of the French Open and a few other odd events, he’s been turning clay courts.
“I realized too late that my game was perfect for it,” he said after practicing with his son last week. “I have such a big kick. I can push people back. It opens up the court. He shook his head, still annoyed with himself thirty years later.
His children would not let such assumptions take hold. He’s taking a different approach.
Late last year, Shelton invited veteran coach Gabriel Echevarria to join his staff as a full-time strength and conditioning coach. It’s another offbeat but logical move for a guy who’s as strong as a lumberjack and can run like a deer but is still prone to being caught off-guard or off-balance.
Shelton hopes to hit the dirt like the best of them (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Echevarría, a native of Argentina, has been with the United States Tennis Association and Tennis Australia for more than a decade. He is known for possessing the special knowledge required to achieve proper movement and balance in tennis, especially on clay, the most common tennis surface in Argentina.
Ideal candidate for a crash course in leadership.
Echevarria says the most common mistake among clay court novices is sliding after hitting the ball, which wastes time rather than sliding Enter shooting. Some shots require fewer steps, or smaller steps, or extra steps.
“If we learn the skill, then we can develop the skill, but the first thing is to learn the right method,” Echevarria explained. “Once you learn the right approach, the model pattern, we can build that skill.”
Sheldon sees Echevarria as a kind of Clay Whisperer, which helps him understand its qualities. “Clay courts are a little different than hard courts,” Shelton said. “You can’t do the same thing.”
So before each day’s practice, not in Monte Carlo or Barcelona but back home in Florida, Echevarria and Shelton’s father discuss which moves to focus on. Sometimes it’s learning how to run diagonally, which happens a lot on clay because there are a lot of lobs and slices. Other times, the problem is how to recover and switch from one shot to the next.
Then Shelton would go out on the court and try out what he’d just learned for two or three hours. After rest and lunch, Bryan can spend more time on the court in the afternoon and/or work out in the gym for up to 90 minutes if Bryan deems it necessary. It’s grueling, and Shelton needs to adapt to what’s at his feet.
“Every clay court is a little different,” he said.
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Shelton’s serve allows him to dominate even on slower surfaces (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
“The bounce is unpredictable, so you can’t always rely on a short jump ball – get the ball early. You can be too close to the bounce or establish your footing too early, and the bounce can be unpredictable and go in the direction you think That’s not going to happen,” he explained.
This is especially true in Madrid, where the altitude (2,000 feet/650 meters above sea level) increases the speed of the ball, creating conditions that allow Daniil Medvedev to make incompetent decisions to his coaching staff. Angry gesture because frustrated on the pitch. Rome is softer and slower at sea level and has its own quirks.
Sheldon? He doesn’t mind.He is thoughtful, That’s what he’s here for.
“You have more time to play because in most places clay courts are a little slower than hard courts, but in Madrid it’s actually really fast,” he said.
“But for the most part, the game is slower. That gives you more time, which I really like. But at the same time, you have to learn how to use that time and learn how to defend those who have more time as well. time man.
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These are the words of a man determined not to repeat the mistakes of his father, a man who wants to be different from what the world expects from a player with unique raw power and athleticism.
It’s not that different from the all-or-nothing option he made more than a year ago in the On trade.
He attended the University of Florida, a quintessential Nike school. Over the years, many great figures in American tennis and American sports have become synonymous with the Swoosh: John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, LeBron James, etc.
“I don’t want to be one of 50 Nike employees,” Shelton said. “Obviously, that’s a big draw as well because Ann is probably the greatest icon in the history of tennis – you know, besides Serena (Williams).” Shelton was referring to Roger Federer (Roger Federer), who five years ago acquired a large stake in On, with which he helped build and launch the company with Shelton and women’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek The first tennis apparel collection.
This is Shelton, a man, a men’s tennis star who sort of, sort of, puts Federer behind Serena Williams in the sport, or at least puts them on the same plane. This doesn’t happen often.
Shelton will win in Houston this year (Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)
Two weeks ago, on an unusually cold Saturday night in Madrid, Shelton took the court for his first match against the Czech Republic’s Tomas Machak.
The 23-year-old Machak has beaten some of the best players in the world this season. He plays fluidly and deceptively powerful throughout the game, and like most Central European players, he basically grew up on clay courts.
He may be ranked 35 spots lower than Shelton, currently ranked 14th in the world, but he has proven to be the kind of player who will almost always be a nightmare for Americans on clay.
Shelton quickly defeated Machak 6-0, 6-2.
He used his strength to push the Czech far behind the baseline, then advanced himself to volley and shoot in the open court. He took advantage of the little extra time the clay afforded him – “I like time on the ball,” he said – and jumped past Machak’s second serve to win early and seize the momentum.
Two days later, Shelton was one point away from defeating Kazakh Alexander Bublik in straight sets. He struggled to deal with several of Bublik’s notoriously relentless low balls, crawling uncomfortably and giving Bublik the shine he needed to get back into the game. The Kazakh team won in three sets, 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4.
This is a live version of the clay tutorial Shelton sought out from Echevarria.Regardless of failure, IIt’s a 180-degree change from a year ago when he landed in Europe for his first clay-court season. “Last year, I had no idea what to expect,” he said.
That’s not his fault. There is not much clay court in the United States, and players mainly learn the game on hard courts.
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Shelton, who grew up in Florida, played some golf on green clay, which is harder to move and has a less predictable bounce than clay. Another Floridian, 2018 French Open runner-up Sloane Stephens, called clay “the real thing.”Still, Shelton barely hit the ball After turning 16 and playing on clay courts, his attention turned to college tennis, a hard-court event.
His match against Pavel Kotov in Rome today, Friday, May 10, will be his 16th professional match on clay, including four at the U.S. Clay Court Championships in Houston early last month victory. He won that match, and while any ATP Tour title is nothing to sneeze at, Shelton knew he wasn’t ready to compete at Roland Garros. So, boot camp. study. That discomfort, that embrace wasn’t quite what he was expecting. In short, it’s different.
Some great tennis players become great by becoming a higher quality version of what they were when they first played on tour. Others move from good to great by embracing new skills.
What is Sheldon?
“He’s like a sponge,” Echevarria said.
Shelton’s slingshot serve is a hallmark of his game (Part 1)
Shelton came out of boot camp believing he could thrive on clay, maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually.
Klay has forced him to be the kind of player he wants to be – a threat on every court, not just because his serve is a game-changing cruise missile, but because he can move the ball around the court with spin and net height , then get into the net, volley in the open field, and run in when needed.
“Americans haven’t had the best success during the clay court season or Roland Garros, but it would be really cool to change that narrative,” he said.
He doesn’t think he has a choice either. The clay court season lasts two months. This is not a four-week sprint grass season. For those bent on reaching the top of the competition, there are too many ranking points up for grabs on clay to allow for any concessions.
Americans are not generally known for their patience. What they like now – instant gratification. Focusing on process rather than results doesn’t always come naturally. But Shelton is a little different here, driven by Echevarria and his father.
He’s approaching this clay swing like he was in boot camp, as an opportunity to learn, gather information, analyze how he can improve, see if he can execute all of these step patterns and all on the most famous of all, crushed red. of sliding world bricks.
If you win, that would be great. if not? beautiful. As Clay demanded, Team Shelton is playing the long game.
“We’re not going to get frustrated,” Echevarria said. “We’re not worried about this because we know this and guess what? Roland Garros is going to be on clay courts Next Year. It will be played on clay for 100 years.
(Top: LR: On; Middle: ATP Tour; Design: Dan Goldfarb)
