Ben Shelton


Ben Shelton


Benjamin Todd Shelton (born October 9, 2002) is an American professional tennis player. Shelton has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 14 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on 8 April 2024. He has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 68 achieved on 20 May 2024.

Shelton won the 2016 USTA junior national championship in doubles. He played college tennis for the Florida Gators. As a true freshman in 2021, he clinched the Gators’ first team national championship with his victory at fifth singles; the following year, he won the men's singles title at the 2022 NCAA Division I Tennis Championships. That same year, he was named the ITA National Player of the Year.

He made his ATP Tour debut in July 2022 at the Atlanta Open where he defeated Ramkumar Ramanathan. The next week, he played in the Cincinnati Masters reaching the third round highlighted by a win over world No. 5 Casper Ruud. In August 2022, Shelton announced he would turn professional. In January 2023, Shelton reached the quarterfinals of just his second major tournament, the 2023 Australian Open. Later that year, he improved to reach the semifinals of another major at the 2023 US Open, and won his first title in Tokyo.

Early and personal life

Shelton is the son of former professional tennis player and Florida Gators men's tennis coach Bryan Shelton. His mother, Lisa Witsken Shelton, was also a highly-ranked junior tennis player, and his uncle, Todd Witsken, was a professional tennis player. His sister, Emma, played college tennis at Florida. Shelton was born in Atlanta, Georgia, as his father was the then-coach of Georgia Tech's women's tennis team. He currently lives in Gainesville, Florida and graduated from Buchholz High School.

Junior career

As a child, Shelton did not want to play tennis and, instead, played football. Despite both of his parents having connections to the game of tennis, they did not pressure him to play the sport. At age 12, Shelton began playing tennis regularly and was coached by his father, Bryan, who at the time was a college tennis coach.

When Shelton turned 16, he considered playing ITF Junior tournaments abroad, but his father urged him not to do so saying: "Why do you need to travel abroad when you're not the best [player in the U.S.]?" Shelton ultimately credits his father's advice not to play ITF Junior tournaments abroad as helping his tennis development because he was not constantly traveling and instead had a routine.

Shelton peaked at a high of the No. 3 player in the USTA Boys’ 18s division and No. 306 ITF Junior. He was a finalist at the 2020 USTA Boys 18s Singles Winter Nationals and won the 2019 USTA Boys 16s Doubles Clay Court tournament.

College career

In June 2020, on Father's Day, Shelton committed to play collegiate tennis for the Florida Gators, under his father, head coach Bryan Shelton. A finance major, Shelton mostly played No. 5 singles as a freshman in 2020–21 and had an overall record of 28–5. He helped the Gators win the Southeastern Conference (SEC) regular season title, and he won the championship-clinching match at the 2021 NCAA Championships, securing Florida's first national title.

In 2021–22, Shelton shone during his second year, going 37–5 in singles matches (including 14–2 in the No. 1 spot). He won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American Championships in the fall without dropping a set. He helped Florida defend their SEC title and win the SEC Tournament Championship. At the end of the season, Shelton won the 2022 NCAA Singles Championship over August Holmgren and finished the season as the nation's top-ranked player. He was named SEC Player of the Year and National Player of the Year.

Shelton was slated to return to Florida for his junior year in 2022–23 and said he wanted to complete his finance degree. Shortly after his successful run at the 2022 Cincinnati Masters, Shelton announced he would forego his remaining college eligibility to turn professional and continue his college education online.

Professional career

2022: Main tour debut, Challenger titles, first top-5 win

At the Georgia's Rome Challenger in July, Shelton reached his first Challenger final, losing to Wu Yibing. The next week at the Indy Challenger, he reached the semi-finals, highlighted by a win over world No. 103 Tim van Rijthoven.

He made his ATP Tour debut at the Atlanta Open as a wildcard, and in the first round he defeated Ramkumar Ramanathan for his first ATP win. He lost his next match to the No. 2 seed John Isner in three sets. Shelton received a wildcard entry into the Cincinnati Masters. In the first round, he defeated world No. 56 Lorenzo Sonego in three sets for his first win over a top-100 player. In the 2nd round, Shelton faced world No. 5 Casper Ruud in his first matchup against a top-10 opponent. Shelton defeated Ruud, in straight sets, by a score of 6–3, 6–3 for his first top-10 win.

On August 23, 2022, Shelton announced he would not return to college and would turn professional. He announced that he would be represented by agent Alessandro Sant Albano, who is a part of Roger Federer's TEAM8 management firm.

He also received a wildcard to appear in the main draw for his Grand Slam debut at the US Open on August 14. He lost in the first round, in five sets, to Nuno Borges while also recording the second fastest serve of the US Open tournament at 149 miles per hour (240 km/h) in this match. He also competed in doubles having paired with fellow American Christopher Eubanks. They were eliminated in the second round after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas and Petros Tsitsipas in the first round.

He reached his third Challenger final of the year at the 2022 Tiburon Challenger after defeating top seed Denis Kudla. As a result, he moved into the top 160 in the rankings on October 10, 2022. He advanced to his fourth Challenger final at the Charlottesville Men's Pro Challenger where he defeated his doubles' partner Christopher Eubanks to secure his first Challenger title. As a result he moved into the top 150 in the rankings at world No. 128 on November 7. His fifth Challenger final featured a repeat of his last with a win against Christopher Eubanks in the Knoxville Challenger which lifted him another 20 positions up to No. 108 in the rankings on November 14. After winning his third straight title at the Champaign–Urbana Challenger, he debuted in the top 100 of the rankings ending the year at world No. 97 on November 21, 2022 and became the youngest player in ATP Challenger Tour history to win three titles in three weeks. He was also the youngest American in the Top 250.

2023: First Major semifinal, first ATP title, top 15

On his debut at the 2023 Australian Open, Shelton reached the fourth round, with wins against Zhang Zhizhen, Nicolás Jarry, and Alexei Popyrin. This was only Shelton's second Grand Slam after the 2022 US Open. Next he defeated compatriot J. J. Wolf to reach the quarterfinal of a Major for the first time in his career. His run concluded with a four-set loss to fellow American Tommy Paul. As a result, he moved 45 positions up into the top 50, at world No. 44, for the first time in his career.

In the beginning of the American hard court season for 2023, Shelton faced a tough start, experiencing defeat in the opening round at the 2023 Delray Beach Open, losing in straight sets to Marcos Giron. His struggles continued at the Mexican Open, where he once again fell in the first round, this time to the fourth-seeded Holger Rune, in a match that stretched to three sets. However, Shelton managed to bounce back at Indian Wells, securing a victory over Fabio Fognini in the initial round, only to be bested by fellow American Taylor Fritz in the second round.

At the 2023 US Open Shelton made it to his first Grand Slam semifinal, where he lost in straight sets to second seed and eventual champion Novak Djokovic. As a result he reached the top 20 in the rankings at world No. 19 on 11 September 2023.

At the 2023 Rolex Shanghai Masters he reached the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 for the first time defeating fourth seed Jannik Sinner for the second biggest win of his career. He reached his maiden final and won his maiden title at the 2023 Japan Open Tennis Championships defeating qualifier Taro Daniel, Jordan Thompson, fifth seed Tommy Paul, qualifier Marcos Giron and Aslan Karatsev. He became the sixth first-time ATP champion in the season and as a result reached the top 15 in the singles rankings on 23 October 2023.

2024: First clay court title, American No. 1

At the 2024 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships he reached his first quarterfinal on clay courts defeating Zizou Bergs, and his first semifinal defeating compatriot Brandon Nakashima. Next he defeated fourth seed Tomás Martín Etcheverry to reach his first clay court final. He won his second career title and first on clay becoming the youngest champion since Andy Roddick in 2002, defeating third seed Frances Tiafoe in the first African-American men’s singles tennis final in the Open Era. As a result he reached a new career-high singles ranking of world No. 14 on 8 April 2024 and became the American No. 1 player ahead of Taylor Fritz on 15 April 2024. He became the youngest American No. 1 player since Andy Roddick in March 2004.

Endorsements

As of March 2023, Shelton is sponsored by On for clothing and shoes and Yonex for racquets. On January 14, 2024, Shelton announced his partnership with Rolex.

Playing style

Shelton's best weapon is his serve. He has the ability to hit a big first serve, which averages 126 miles per hour (203 km/h). At the US Open in 2023, he hit two service aces at 149.0 miles per hour (239.8 km/h) in the same game. He additionally hit a serve at 150.0 miles per hour (241.4 km/h) during the 2024 Indian Wells tournament. He also can produce a significant amount of kick on both first and second serves. A left-handed player, Shelton is powerful and consistent on both the forehand and backhand side. He is comfortable moving to the net off his powerful groundstrokes to finish points. Shelton has said "I love to get to net, be able to use some of my hand skills, athletic skills and going up to get the ball (to put away overheads) is one of my favorite things to do..." He has said that the serve-and-volley is an important part of his game and an area he wants to further develop. His tennis idol is Roger Federer.

Performance timelines

Singles

Current through the 2024 Queen's Club Championships.

Doubles

ATP Tour career finals

Singles: 2 (2 titles)

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

ATP Challenger and ITF World Tennis Tour finals

Singles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

National and international representation

Team competitions finals: 1 (1 title)

Wins over top 10 players

  • Shelton has a 3–8 (27.3%) win-loss record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.
*As of October 10, 2023

Notes

References

External links

  • Ben Shelton at the Association of Tennis Professionals
  • Ben Shelton at the International Tennis Federation
  • Florida Gators bio Archived July 5, 2022, at the Wayback Machine

Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: Ben Shelton by Wikipedia (Historical)



 


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