At the end of one of the most powerful tennis matches seen in the current Australian Championship, the American Ben Shelton beat his compatriot JJ Wolff in five sets and advanced to the quarterfinals.
The 20-year-old Shelton hit 64 winners in a match that stretched over nearly four hours.
He saved two critical break points, showed a lot of character and a lot of maturity.
At the end he said: "I showed a lot of courage, and I think I did a good job and played at a high level in the fifth set."
Ben Shelton has reached the #AusOpen quarterfinals in his main draw debut 👏
He is the fourth American man to achieve this since 1990, joining Tennys Sandgren, Andre Agassi and Patrick McEnroe.
pic.twitter.com/oTkhVolE1u
— ESPN (@espn) January 23, 2023
Thanks to all these qualities, Shelton not only survived the first week of the tournament, he also secured a ticket to the last eight and a meeting with another American: Tommy Paul.
Not bad at all for someone who until this year hadn't even left the country's borders.
Yes, the year 2023 is the first in which Ben Shelton signs a passport and leaves his comfort zone.
Truth be told, he had no real reason to do so until now.
He played his tennis in college, then at the University of Florida, and later in all kinds of local tournaments, and thank God there are quite a few of them in the US. Of course, the only Grand Slam in his life was the one that takes place in New York, where he lost in 2022 in the first round. For a young player ranked around 500 in the world, it was more than enough.
"There were American players who beat me from time to time, I didn't win every tournament I participated in, so my father thought I should stay here and continue to improve. He saw no reason for me to go to another country and lose to other people."
The father is Brian Shelton, a former tennis player who won two ATP titles and who pushed the boy into the sport.
At first the younger son didn't really run, but at the age of 12 he grabbed a racket and went on a journey.
Shelton celebrates the achievement, photo: Getty
Casper Rod was impressed
The turning point of this journey came about five months ago.
From the 229th place in the world, Shelton beat in the Cincinnati tournament the 60th ranked Lorenzo Songo in the world and then the 5th ranked Casper Rude. At the end of that match, when the two met on the net, Rude said to Shelton;
"I know you've played big games in your career and will play many more, but I hope this was one of your best."
The Norwegian was defeated 6:3, 6:3.
He was thrilled by the American's abilities and realized that he was facing someone who might be one of the stars of the future.
Rod's words plus the results he achieved at that time - a final in the Challenger tournament, a debut and a debut victory in an ATP tournament, and of course the victories over Songo Rod - led the young Shelton to realize that his father was probably wrong.
Enough for the colleges and universities, enough for the USA. As of today, he is a professional tennis player. The father remains a coach, but a travel coach, sponsors, an agent from Doppel, and a lot of expectations have joined. "It is important that I continue to play against high-level players," he explained the move.
Rod.
A tribute to the young American, photo: EPA
So on January 2, Shelton landed in Australia.
He lost in the qualifiers of the Adelaide tournament, but a week later he beat Sebastian Baas (41st in the world) in the Auckland tournament, and his confidence increased.
He entered the first round of the Australian Championship from the back door, but stormed in with a five-set victory over China's Zhang Zhizheng.
In the second round he beat the Chilean Nicolas Yari, and in the third he knocked out the local Alexey Popirin.
"Shelton is a force to be reckoned with," Pophirin said, and this force stood out yesterday in the fourth round against Wolf.
Now, even before the quarter-finals against Paul, Shelton has already become a household name.
He will rise to the 50th place in the world, and many see him as the next big thing.
One thing is certain: he will have to leave the US quite a bit starting this year.
government.
Will now travel a lot around the world, photo: Reuters
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