Ben Shelton has chosen to focus on the positives in his performance despite a dispiriting quarter-final defeat to defending champion Jannik Sinner.
The 23-year-old American fell in straight sets to the Italian but believes his game is closer than ever to a Grand Slam breakthrough.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, the world No. 7 said he now needs to beat players such as Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz to truly solidify the progress he has made.
“You know, I’m getting to the point now where I’m getting stopped by the toughest challenge in the game for the most part, and I do think that I’m close to bringing it all together.
“I think it’s just going to take that one time where I do do it to kind of get me over the hump. It’s always been that way for me. Certainly not discouraged from a performance like this, but you know, I want to see myself get out in front and see what I can do from there in a match rather than falling behind just because I know how I feel when I get out in front at slams.
“So, for me, I think that, you know, it’s a matter of time and work just trying to put all the pieces together, because I’m not complete yet, but I feel myself becoming more complete.”
Shelton then answered on if he was proud of his progress since his first appearance in Melbourne three years ago.
“I know how blessed I am and lucky I am. I got great people around me, and that’s why I do continue to make improvements. But I’m an addict. I’ve become more and more addicted to this game and, you know, figuring things out, chasing the guys who are ahead of me. It’s feeling the pressure that you feel on the court at a Grand Slam, there’s no better feeling.
“For me, it’s a privilege to be out here every time, especially at the four biggest tournaments of the year. That’s what, you know, drives me every day, and I just feel like the drive getting stronger and stronger each year.
“Yeah, I feel that, you know, tonight I’m upset 100% with how it went, but I, you know, have a lot of belief in myself and confidence in the work that I know will be continuous and I’ll continue to put in.”
He was then fully honest in assessing what he could have done better in his match against Sinner, especially on the Italian’s serve.
“Yeah, I think I had two second-serve looks on break points today, and I think I missed both of them, or maybe one of them I hit weak and he spread me quickly.
“But I just think that I needed to be a little bit more aggressive and intentional with what I did with the second serve. I think that with other guys, I can get away with putting in the court and either being at neutral or having to scramble a little bit at the first ball and then getting back to neutral or getting on offense. I was doing a really good job of that.
But with a guy who has the plus-one ability that he has off of both sides, I needed to be a lot better and have more purpose with my second-serve return, which I thought that he had against me and was able to put me in uncomfortable positions and get to offense a good amount of times on my second serve and make me think about which serves I was using.”
He followed up on this when prompted if this was a technical or mental issue in his game.
“No, I mean, I wouldn’t say technical. I would just say tactical.
“You know, that’s what I mean when I say having a specific purpose, because I have the ability to return from deep. I have the ability to take the serve on early, although it’s something that I need to continue to get better at.
“But I think that the way I was talking about it was more with what I have right now on this day, regardless of improvements that I could make in the future, you know, what I should have done with what I have. It is just more tactics.”
