Shelton Shows Perspective On First Season On Tour Amid Recent Struggles

| by Jake Davies

After his second-round win at the 2023 US Open, Ben Shelton talked about how he feels about his first year consistently playing on the ATP Tour.

Ben Shelton competed in his first ever Grand Slam main draw match at the US Open at the age of 19, where he would go on to lose in five sets to Portugal's Nuno Borges.

Since then, the American has essentially been thrown onto tennis' biggest stage and has needed to continue to develop and improve his game, while playing all of the main tour-level tournaments. Shelton's huge breakthrough came at this year's Australian Open, where he rallied to the quarter-finals, but since then winning streaks have been harder to come by.

Shelton still comes across quite raw on first viewing on a tennis court, and can definitely work on some of his composure, but his game revolves around a heavy lefty serve and a commanding forehand thereafter, Those are two weapons that will take him far, even despite the deficiencies on return and his lack of really efficient movement.

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Shelton reflected on how he feels about his level at present and how he has been working on some of his weaknesses after advancing following Dominic Thiem's retirement.

"Kind of finding the balance of how to be aggressive on the return of serve, how to get ahead in some points, but be consistent, not to be spraying returns everywhere."

In some cases with up-and-coming players, they can often try to rush the process when they taste some success very early on on the main tour. But Shelton appears to have a great level of perspective to the situation he finds himself in, and recognises that the groundwork he puts in now is mainly to set him up for the long-term.

"Being out on tour you have a lot more time to yourself alone in your hotel room, more time to think about things. I think knowing that this is the first time I am playing every tournament, and my first time on two surfaces that has been the majority of the season. I know that is something where there is going to be a little bit of a learning curve. I'm going to have to make some adjustments and improvements. 

"I didn't expect to be at the very top level on those surfaces right away. I kind of had to keep my perspective and know that. Okay, it's not like I'm supposed to go out here and win every single match I play just because I did something good early on in the season."

Shelton faces a tough third round matchup as he is set to face the aggressive Aslan Karatsev for a place in the second week of the US Open.

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