Ben Shelton Speaks Out After Slamming Opponent For Being 'So Soft'
NewsFriday, 18 April 2025 at 00:00
Ben Shelton opened up about how he saw the incident he was part of at the 2025 Monte-Carlo Masters.
In the past, the best singles tennis players used to play doubles much more than they do today. While the trend is still somewhat present on the WTA Tour, there are currently only two Top 50 singles players ranked also in the Top 50 in doubles on the ATP Tour.
Shelton is one of the top singles players who are ranked inside the Top 100 in doubles, as he appears on the doubles court quite often. To start the clay-court season, the 22-year-old American signed up to play doubles at the Monte-Carlo Masters as well as the Munich Open.
And it was in Monte-Carlo where he was part of a controversy. Shelton teamed up with Rohan Bopanna, and they beat Francisco Cerundolo and Alejandro Tabilo in the first round of the tournament. In the second round, they took on Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.
It was a three-set match, which the American-Indian duo ended up winning, eliminating the Italians. But what happened after the match stole the headlines. Vavassori felt the need to tell Shelton that his antics during the match were not okay, as he felt that the American aiming at the body of his opponent was not fair.
In response, Shelton called his opponent "so soft," and now he spoke more about the incident in an interview with Tennis Channel. The American explained that he is one of the biggest supporters of doubles on the ATP Tour and that he feels like aiming for the body of the opponent is a fair tactic in doubles.
"Everybody on Tour who knows me knows that I support the doubles guys more than anyone. I'm playing with the doubles guys three tournaments in a row, those are some of my favorite guys on Tour."
"For me, it was a normal tennis play. My shot was going in. I feel like getting hit is a normal part of doubles, and a few games later, his partner hit me 100 miles an hour in the middle of the chest. So, I didn't think that there was any issue with the way that I played and the way that it happened."
At the same time, Shelton was surprised that Vavassori chose to approach him. The incident happened at the start of the match, and his opponent chose to confront him with it after the match.
"I was kind of surprised that, after being [hit in] the second game, and we played a whole match, he said that I was in the wrong at the handshake. Yeah, I'm going to keep doing me, and I know I didn't do anything wrong."
Shelton appeared on the doubles court in Munich as well, but even though he and Bopanna beat Jamie Murray and Rajeev Ram in the first round, they lost in their second match against Sander Gille and Jan Zielinski.
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