Ben Shelton dominates serving stats at 2023 Australian Open
ATP
Ben Shelton was the star of the 2023 Australian Open, and the numbers back that up, as he completely dominated the serving stats.
Prior to the first Grand Slam of the season, the young American player had never left the United States. He previously competed in the ATP Challenger Tour tournaments in the country and was never forced to leave.
That changed when his ranking grew sufficiently to qualify for Grand Slam tournaments. Shelton had to fly to Australia to compete at the 2023 Australian Open, and what a debut it was for him.
The American player bested Zhizhen Zhang, Nicolas Jarry, Alexei Popyrin, and J.J. Wolf to find himself in the quarter-finals of the tournament. He lost that match to compatriot Tommy Paul, who became the first American man to reach the Australian Open semi-final since Andy Roddick.
Although he played "only" five matches, Shelton still dominated the serving stats at the Australian Open. The 20-year-old player hit the fastest serve recorded at the tournament. His fastest-recorded serve was clocked at 228 kph (141 mph).
That placed him ahead of two other fellow big serves. His compatriot Frances Tiafoe, and Alexander Bublik, who hit their fastest serves at 226 kph (140 mph) and 224 kph (139 mph), respectively.
Shelton didn't dominate only the speed gun records but also the ace statistics. In the five matches he played at the event, the young American player hit a total of 85 aces. Only in his quarter-final match against Paul, Shelton hit 24 aces.
The two players behind him in the ace statistics are Karen Khachanov and Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Russian player hit 83 aces at the event, while Tsitsipas hit 69.
Theoretically, Tsitsipas could still overtake Shelton in his final match against Novak Djokovic, but he would need to hit 17 aces to do that.
