"Unreal experience" - Shelton after leaving US for first time in his life and experiencing Australian crowd

| by Evita Mueller

Ben Shelton will be playing in the fourth round of the 2023 Australian Open, and it's the first time that he's away from the United States of America.

Last year, the 20-year-old American recorded one of the most significant moves in the ATP Rankings, when he jumped from world no. 573 to the Top 100. Thanks to that, he qualifies for all Grand Slam tournaments, and that means, he had to leave his country for the first time as he revealed when he was traveling to Australia.

In the third round of the tournament, Shelton took on home player Alexei Popyrin, and the match was played in the John Cain Arena. The young American experienced an atmosphere that Australian fans are capable of producing, and he spoke about it afterwards.

"It feels great. I said on the court that it's a pinch-me moment. Unreal experience out there on the court today with that Aussie crowd. It was a lot of fun to be out there, and I'm happy to be moving on."

After the match, Shelton immediately called his parents. His father Bryan, who is former world no. 55, and coaches his son during his time spent at the University of Florida.

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"He was definitely excited. It's like 5:40 there, and they have a match today, the team does. So I think I messed up his sleep schedule a little bit. He still has his analytical mind going and talked to me about the things that I did really well today and the few things that I could have done a bit better. So, yeah, he was happy overall."

The youngster talked also about his upcoming opponent, J.J. Wolf.

"We're good friends, like to joke around a lot, have a lot of locker room banter. So he is a good guy. Definitely excited to be able to play him, and I think it's a match that the crowd will for sure enjoy."

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