Ben Shelton will be seeded in his first-ever Wimbledon main draw due to other players withdrawing from the Grand Slam.
Shelton made his first-ever appearance at an ATP grass tournament at the 2023 Cinch Championships recently and showed some decent form by defeating J.J. Wolf in the competition's first round. However, the 20-year-old then took Lorenzo Musetti to three sets in the second round before eventually losing to the Italian.
The American then turned his attention to the Mallorca Championships this week but wasn't as successful as he crashed out in the first round following a defeat against compatriot Christopher Eubanks. However, the early defeat will be eased by the revelation that Shelton will be seeded at Wimbledon 2023 following Jan-Lennard Struff's withdrawal from the Grand Slam.
Receiving a seeded entry at SW19 will be a big boost for Shelton, which means he could avoid some of the higher-ranked players earlier in the competition. As a result, the American will have more of a chance to find his feet at Wimbledon and potentially build momentum to put together a strong run at his third-ever major tournament.
Since making his ATP debut in July 2022, Shelton has grown confidently in senior tennis and produced some impressive performances in the 2023 campaign so far. Most notably, the 20-year-old put together a strong run at the Australian Open in January when he reached the quarter-finals of the competition before he lost to fellow American Tommy Paul.
Even though Shelton is still learning his trade in professional tennis and in grass court competitions, his father and coach, Bryan Shelton, recently backed the young player to show his quality at SW19 this summer. Bryan Shelton said his son can draw inspiration from American great Pete Sampras, who lifted seven Wimbledon titles in an eight-year spell between 1993 and 2000.
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