In one of the men's quarterfinal matches at the 2023 Australian Open, good friends Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul met.
Any of the players that would win, were set to become the first American men in the Australian Open semifinals since Andy Roddick in 2019. Both players are very good friends and it was obvious not just during the match but also after the match.
In the fourth set, Paul was a break up and he had another chance to break Shelton when he turned to his coach Brad Stine for advice. The young American was asking him where his opponent is going to serve, and he responding by showing the letter T, indicating that he should cover the middle of the court.
Shelton would then serve wide and start laughing after hitting an ace, telling his team: "Brad said T." After the match, Paul also spoke about this moment.
"I asked him, I had trouble all day on break points, big points, with Ben, he was serving really well. I didn't know where to lean. So finally I went to my coach, and I went like 'where am I going'. He was like 'what?', I was like, 'where am I going?' And I think that when I said it, Ben heard it, he [coach] screamed T, and then I covered T and then he went wide."
Soon after the match, the two were pictured laughing together in the locker room as they had fun shortly after their highly-competitive match.
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