Ben Shelton Feels his ‘Level is Close’ to the Best after Sinner Loss - UBITENNIS

Ben Shelton Feels his ‘Level is Close’ to the Best after Sinner Loss

Ben Shelton feels he is close to his best level after exiting the Australian Open.

By Anshu Taneja
10 Min Read
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Although he lost in straight sets 7-6, 6-2, 6-2 to the number one player in the World who is now unbeaten for almost four months, Ben Shelton was absolutely committed to the journey ahead and recognised the vast improvements in his game when tested against the best.

“I know I’m close. I know my level’s close. I know I have a lot of the stuff that I need,” said Shelton in his press conference afterwards. “I certainly believe in myself. I just think that the reps against those guys, the consistency of playing those guys, playing a lot of matches in a week or a couple weeks, that will be the goal this year for me. As long as my tennis keeps improving, my fitness keeps improving, I like the spot that I’m going to be in for the rest of this year and moving forward in my career.”

The American started well and broke Sinner’s serve in the first game with a running forehand pass from way behind the baseline, but was broken back soon after. But if there was any regret from today’s encounter, it was not taking his two set point chances on his serve when 6-5 ahead.

“Next time I’m out there with set points, I’m going to hit the ace,” said a smiling Shelton. “You know going into the match that playing Jannik is a tough ask. I’ve made my living on tour so far serving out sets and being able to serve out sets. Having two set points on my serve, serving at 6-5, I feel like uncharacteristic for me not to come through and win that. Obviously, you’re playing the No. 1 player in the world, the chances, the windows are always small and the guy steps up his level, starts making a lot more first serves, playing better. The break chances don’t come as often.”

Since legends Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer retired, the younger generation of Carlo Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner – as well as the evergreen Novak Djokovic – have continued to set the standards required for others mortals to follow. And Shelton knows that they are simply wired differently and that he needs to adapt his mindset and gameplay to improve.

“I think that those guys… Sinner, Alcaraz, Novak, the guys who have been dominating in the slams over the last two years since I’ve been on tour: on their bad days they’re still winning in three sets, winning in four sets. They figure it out.

I’m getting closer to being able to do that. Not having a good serving day or serving week and having a great tournament is a huge positive for me. It’s like being able to recognize the flaws in what I did, in my game, against some of these guys, being able to go back to the drawing board. It gives me a lot of confidence. I’m disappointed because I wanted to see where this match ended up. I win that first set, and kind of get into the depths of it, deep in the fourth or the fifth, which should have been possible with where I was at in the first set, serving with set points.”

While others arrive on court in fear of heavy-hitting Sinner – who has arguably taken the game to levels never seen before in terms of consistency, depth, and raw pace of the ground – Shelton feels his game matches up well to the World number one and relishes the challenge in front of him.

“I don’t think many people would probably argue that Jannik is striking the ball the best in the world right now. Somehow that’s very difficult to deal with. I didn’t execute perfectly today, but one of the good things about this matchup is that although he hits a massive ball obviously, it has height over the net. It has shape. It’s big, but it also bounces up. For me, I’m a tall guy. I’m a better high-zone hitter. A lot of people do struggle with that ball that’s a little higher in the zone coming fast. I don’t mind it. I don’t mind smacking a forehand off my back foot or hitting the backhand at shoulder height.

Yeah, for me I feel like I can bring out some of my best tennis at times. If I can cut out a few of those drops in level that I had, serve a little bit better, obviously close out that one game I didn’t close out, then we see where we are. It’s motivating for me. I’m going to continue to work hard and build.”

Shelton denied there was any issues with his leg and that both players required the normal treatments allowed for the exertions of reaching the second week of a Slam. He also revealed that he now feels totally at home with the big-match occasions, handling the crowd and nerves in these high-stake contests.

“Honestly it feels pretty normal to me. No more nerves than any other match at this tournament. I guess I’m surprised with how normal it does feel out there to me. I’m happy that in the big moments or big atmospheres I don’t panic. I just go out there and go to work and start playing. All that you can hope for this late in the tournament is to be in a great place mentally, your body still together physically, and just go out there and compete as hard as you can. I think that’s something that I do handle well. I handle the big matches or the big moments well.”

After a tight opening set, Sinner took control both the second and third and closed out the match easily, but a semi-final showing represents a very successful showing at the opening Grand Slam of the year, and Shelton was pleased with his performance today, except for his serve.

“I thought that from the ground I played well. I thought I volleyed pretty well. I thought I returned well. I put myself in positions. I broke twice in the first, and I put myself in positions to break early in the second and the third, the second serve returns on break points or deep in a rally on a break point.

[But] my spot serving I thought just wasn’t there tonight. Probably one of my worst serving days in this tournament so far. Honestly, that’s been one thing for me this whole tournament, I thought that I haven’t served too great. I’ve been making up with my plus-ones, doing it with my forehand. I’ve honestly been breaking serve a lot. That was just one thing that outside of the Carreno Busta match that never clicked for me. It’s just something to keep going back and improving on.”

The journey to the top is a long, hard road, but Shelton remained overwhelmingly optimistic on the year ahead: “I just want to get better. I want to be able to be on the tennis court and feel like a complete player, that I have no limitations. I want to feel that I have a lot of options out on the tennis court. I want to continue to competing at this level with the attitude and mindset that I have, which I think is great right now for me.

Let’s see what happens. Certainly not where I want to be. It’s a positive two weeks, no doubt, and something that I can build on. I’m excited for the rest of the year, really excited. There’s so many opportunities to compete. We got three more slams. I want to do some more damage than I’ve done on clay this year. Just keep seeing myself get better and better.”

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