A last forehand out of reach of his opponent, then the imitation of the telephone, which he pretends to hang up like in the days of fixed handsets that he has not known. The young American Ben Shelton, 47th in the world, qualified for the US Open on Tuesday for his first Grand Slam semi-final by beating his compatriot Frances Tiafoe (10th) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (9 /7), 6-2.
The 2022 American university tennis champion will face Novak Djokovic, who did not give details against the United States’ No. 1, Taylor Fritz (6-1, 6-4, 6-4).
At 20, Shelton is playing his first full season on the ATP Tour: for his first trip outside the United States in January, he reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open. He becomes the youngest American to reach the last four at Flushing Meadows since Michael Chang lost at that stage to Stefan Edberg in 1992.
A child of the ball
Powerful (1.93 m, 88 kg), this exuberant player has something to look forward to: his father Bryan Shelton was 55th at the ATP in 1992 and 8th finalist at Wimbledon two years later; his mother Lisa also shone in the juniors.