Spectacular, son of a pro player… Who is Ben Shelton, Melbourne’s revelation?

To find traces of an American winner of a Grand Slam tournament, you always have to go back to 2003, with the success of Andy Roddick at the US Open, a few months after that of André Agassi in Australia. Difficult to say that the famine will soon end for the country king of tennis at the end of the 20th century, with, in addition to the husband of Steffi Graf, Pete Sampras and Jim Courier as standard bearers. But Team US is currently shining in Melbourne, placing four representatives in the round of 16 and three in the quarterfinals: Sebastian Korda as well as Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton, who will meet.

The latter, a powerful left-hander who fell for his mustachioed compatriot Jeffrey John Wolf in the 8th round, is the least known. Quite logical, given that before discovering the southern lands, the young colossus of 20 years (1.93 m, 88 kg) had never left the motherland. Not even for a vacation, as he had indicated on Twitter on December 29, by responding to a tweet from a Portuguese journalist. “I used my passport for the first time two days ago,” said the current 89th in the world (who will be 43rd at worst next Monday), which sailed beyond the Top 500 until last May.

The 2022 American university tennis champion, who imagined a future in US football until he was 12, has so far been content to shine at home, while studying finance, which still leaves more of choice than in Andorra or even in France. He scoured the courts of the country with his team of Florida Gators, under the leadership of his father Bryan Shelton, 55th at the ATP in 1992 and 8th finalist at Wimbledon two years later, after having subdued the spectacular German Michael Stich, then 2nd worldwide. His mother Lisa also shone in the juniors and her brother, Todd Witsken was 43rd in the world in singles and 4th in doubles before passing away. at 34 in 1998four years before the birth of Ben, worthy child of the (small) ball.

Dad’s good advice

The father was originally on the homebody side of his son who, as a teenager, asked him to be able to rub shoulders with foreign competition: “He replied: ‘Why would we go and play in another country when you you’re not even the best here? “”, confided Shelton Jr. at the ATP website.

Until this fortnight in Melbourne, the son’s main coup remained a success over the Dane Casper Ruud (5th in the world), last August during the 2nd round of the Masters 1000 in Cincinnatti, for which he had benefited from a invitation, followed by a new “wild card” at the US Open, just after his move to the pros (defeat in the 1st round against the Portuguese Nuno Borges).

Winner of three consecutive Challengers (the 2nd division of the circuit) in November, the young American admitted to having suffered from jet lag in Adelaide (defeat in the 1st round against the local James Duckworth) then in Auckland (failure against Quentin Halys in 8th) before to chart his course in Melbourne. Admittedly, his table was not the fiercest: the Chinese Zhang Zhizen to start (beaten only in the super tie-break of the 5th set), then the Chilean Nicolas Jarry, the Australian Alexei Popyrin (both sent in three rounds ) and, therefore, Wolf, beaten after five sets and 3h51 of play.

Finance studies alongside tennis

However, this huge server impressed with his powerful game, not really comparable to that of his idol Roger Federer. Even if he is capable of a few fantasies between two concrete blocks, like that tweening lob which turned well on social networks, during his victory over Ruud in Cincinnati…

In Australia, Shelton also manages to thrill the public, in the American style, with many demonstrative behaviors that do not stick too much to the job of financial adviser for which he was destined if he did not break into sport. The young player also continues to study remotely, in the evening, as he confided to the ATP site before the start of the tournament, between two digressions on his desire to see koalas and kangaroos: “It’s really nice to have something outside of tennis that I can dive into or spend time doing, so I’m not focused on just one thing. »

An outstanding server

The evening lessons will quickly fade into the background if Popyrin’s prophecy comes true: “If he continues to play like this, the guy is Top 10 in six months, had dropped the Australian after his defeat against the now quarterback. finalist in Melbourne. He hits the lines, he has an average second serve at 120 mph, you can’t do much to attack that second serve, and it’s even harder because he’s left-handed. »

The surprise of the fortnight was more reasonable, on Eurosport : ” My goals ? The Top 30 by the end of the year, and a participation in the Olympic Games next year. “By the Paris meeting, Ben Shelton will undoubtedly have discovered Europe and the capital of France this spring, at Roland-Garros.


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