Ben Shelton will certainly want to face Novak Djokovic at the 2024 Australian Open, and he started well to be able to reach that match.
Apart from the obvious goal of going as deep at the tournament as possible, the young American has an added motivation to face the 24-time Grand Slam champion this year.
When the draw for the 2024 Australian Open came out, there were many possible matchups that fans immediately noticed, and one of them was the fourth-round possible matchup between the top-seeded Novak Djokovic and the 16th-seeded Ben Shelton.
The Serbian started his tournament with a hard-fought win, but he also recently made quite interesting comments. While previously claiming that the fact that his imitation of Shelton's celebration at the 2023 US Open had no special intentions, he now changed the narrative.
Djokovic claimed that it was his response to "provocation" from his opponent, even claiming that Shelton "didn't behave properly" and with the two two victories apart from each other, it's impossible not to follow this storyline.
In his first match at the event, the 21-year-old faced a challenging opponent, as Roberto Bautista Agut is returning to tennis, but the Spanish player still needs to play some matches to be able to reach his previous Top-10 level.
That was clear mostly in the first set of the match. While the Spanish player had a total of eight break points, his opponent always neutralized those with his serve, and on the other hand, when Shelton had a break point, he always used his chance.
So, with break points 8 to 2 for Bautista Agut, the first set score paradoxically showed 6-2 for Shelton. The second set was probably closest of all, with both players having a one-break advantage at times, but none of them converting it into a set win.
That meant the tie-break had to decide the second set, and it was a very good tie-break from the American player, while Bautista Agut couldn't find any sort of rhythm, losing it 2-7.
With a 2-0 lead, last year's quarterfinalist wanted to finish things off in the third set, and he did. Shelton kept his intensity high when it mattered and he cruised towards a three-set win 6-2, 7-6(2), 7-5, setting up a second-round match with home player Christopher O'Connell.
Ben Shelton vs Roberto Bautista Agut Match Stats:
| Ben Shelton | Roberto Bautista Agut | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Aces | 1 |
| 2 | Double Faults | 2 |
| 68% | First Serve % | 76% |
| 79% | Points Won After First Serve % | 57% |
| 39% | Points Won After Second Serve % | 48% |
| 6/7 | Break Point Conversion | 2/11 |
| 53 | Winners | 16 |
| 40 | Unforced Errors | 36 |
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