{"id":894053,"date":"2026-09-13T09:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T09:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/894053\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T09:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T09:38:12","slug":"ben-sheltons-tennis-gifts-made-him-a-contender-to-become-a-champion-he-has-more-to-unwrap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/894053\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Shelton\u2019s tennis gifts made him a contender. To become a champion, he has more to unwrap"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 Ben Shelton<\/a> remembers the exact phrase that sprang into his mind near the end of his first-round match at Wimbledon this year, an irksome loss to Otto Virtanen<\/a> of Finland.<\/p>\n

When he led 8-5 in the fifth-set tiebreak, he looked up at the scoreboard and thought, \u201cWhat is this bull\u2014\u2014\u2014t?\u201d<\/p>\n

Shelton had already let a two-sets-to-one lead slip away. If he and Virtanen had been playing a normal, seven-point tiebreak, rather than one of the 10-point versions that decide fifth sets, he would have already won.<\/p>\n

The American felt he should have already won. Virtanen was ranked No. 140 in the world, and Shelton, the No. 4 seed at the All England Club, hadn\u2019t lost a first-round match at a Grand Slam in three years.<\/p>\n

But after his moment of awe at his fate that day, Shelton won just one more point. Virtanen took the tiebreak 11-9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little bit shocked because, to be honest. When I look back at the match, I didn\u2019t feel that there were many other first-round matches at Slams in the last two years where I\u2019ve played much better,\u201d Shelton said in an interview this summer.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for the shock to fade. When it did, patterns began to emerge as Shelton analyzed the match. Mental lapses. Sub-par returning. Poor point construction on break points in his favor. Those are three large reasons why Shelton, 23, has had a mixed bag of a year. He has captured four titles, the most he has ever won in a single season, but he has also endured several early-round exits at the big-time tournaments, including two of the first three Grand Slams.<\/p>\n

Why are some tennis players better at night?<\/p>\n

Tifo Sports<\/p>\n

Shelton\u2019s father, Bryan, is a former ATP Tour player. He is also his son\u2019s coach, and thanks to that influence, Shelton has always looked at his career through a long lens. The loss to Virtanen was a stark reminder that the innate gifts which have propelled him to stardom will likely not be enough to make him a champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m still a raw talent,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cI don\u2019t feel I\u2019m really as refined as any of the guys in the top 10, and I feel like I have a lot of tools that are coming along, but not quite there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question now is what Shelton does with this self-awareness. He is into a first Grand Slam final after riding it first to a stunning five-set quarterfinal upset win over Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>, and then a more routine handling of his peer and friend Frances Tiafoe<\/a> in the semis, putting Shelton into a showdown with Alexander Zverev.<\/p>\n

Shelton displayed many of his familiar vulnerabilities in a 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 third-round win over fellow lefty Denis Shapovalov, in a match that started Friday and ended just after 2 a.m. Saturday on Arthur Ashe Stadium.<\/p>\n

The first two sets were uneven on both sides of the net. Shelton and Shapovalov took turns flubbing leads and break points.<\/p>\n

Their start was delayed by Serena and Venus Williams\u2019 doubles match, which went three hours \u2014 extraordinarily long for doubles. When Shelton and Shapovalov took the court, they were unprepared. Mental errors were plentiful, and it wasn\u2019t until the third set that Shelton started playing slightly more how he wants in terms of aggression and his ability to dictate.<\/p>\n

It was a rickety win, but a win all the same. It also sent Shelton into the last 16 at the U.S. Open for the first time since 2023, when he made the semifinals. Now, after a run of far more secure, locked-in performances in which his backhand has held up and he has extended rallies over and over, he is in a major final.<\/p>\n

And while Shelton\u2019s win against Shapovalov did not represent growth, it was a feat of survival.<\/p>\n

That Wimbledon loss to Virtanen had followed a second-round, straight-sets loss to Rapha\u00ebl Collignon at the French Open.<\/p>\n

Improving on that here in New York counted for something, especially considering Shelton\u2019s opponents in the first two rounds. Tallon Griekspoor and Hubert Hurkacz are far from household names, but are veterans who know how to make opponents\u2019 lives difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is a great way to start the tournament in terms of variety. I\u2019ve dealt with a lefty, I\u2019ve dealt with a big hitter, I\u2019ve dealt with a feel guy, I\u2019ve dealt with a massive server, I\u2019ve dealt with a spot server, serve-and-volleyer,\u201d Shelton said early Saturday morning, when asked if he\u2019d have preferred an easier path to the fourth round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel well prepared for what\u2019s ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

\n Shelton\u2019s returning is what could propel him to the next level of tennis. (Jean Catuffe \/ DPPI via Sipa)<\/p>\n

Shelton hadn\u2019t had too many deep runs at big tournaments this year before New York.<\/p>\n

Between his quarterfinal appearance at the Australian Open in January and the disappointment at Wimbledon in June, he won two 500-level ATP titles and a 250-level tournament in Stuttgart, but mostly crashed out on tennis\u2019s grandest stages. The furthest he made it at four ATP Masters 1000 events during that stretch was the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif.<\/p>\n

Retreating home to Florida from London earlier than expected, the Virtanen defeat motivated him to dive into training. He soon realized that match was actually a map. He hadn\u2019t quite been able to pinpoint why he was losing earlier than expected at Grand Slams and ATP Masters 1000 events, which are played at the level just below the four majors, but having success at smaller tournaments.<\/p>\n

Wimbledon helped clarify that part of the problem was mental \u2014 he\u2019d never had an issue performing well in big competitions, and he\u2019d started taking early-rounds opponents for granted.<\/p>\n

Then there was the return, a vulnerability in his game of which Shelton has long been aware<\/a>. Wimbledon was another strong signal that players he shouldn\u2019t be losing to on paper were too easily pushing him around in half of the games of each set.<\/p>\n

His ability to construct points when he was in a position to break needed attention, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s weird, I think that match did help me a lot. I\u2019m in a way better mental space now with my identity because of that loss,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cWhen I\u2019m confident and feeling myself, I do a better job of taking it to guys. Even when guys are trying to play aggressively, or take my time away, or get on top of me early, I feel like my stuff can void that out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of the U.S. Open, Shelton was the dominant player in a field full of up-and-comers<\/a> at the ATP Masters 1000 Canadian Open in Montreal earlier in August. He didn\u2019t drop a set on the way to successfully defending his title there, able to control his matches from end to end.<\/p>\n

The conditions in Canada were ideal: slow hard courts, where the bread-and-butter elements of Shelton\u2019s big-serve-plus-big-forehand game could shine and he had enough time to take meaty cuts at his opponents\u2019 serves. He was also the most experienced quarterfinalist of a historically young field.<\/p>\n

He then went out of the Cincinnati Open early, and the challenge was tougher at the U.S. Open: after beating Tsitsipas, Alcaraz was waiting in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

Opponents such as Alcaraz \u2014 even if the Spaniard is just coming back from a long absence due to a wrist injury \u2014 were the kinds causing Shelton problems. Not for Alcaraz\u2019s world-beating talents, but for his ability to be solid and aggressive for hours under pressure.<\/p>\n

Shelton knows he can no longer ride his raw talent and hard work.<\/p>\n

That first-round loss at Wimbledon may have been a turning point for his 2026 season. Shelton hopes the U.S. Open final can be a turning point for his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Ben Shelton remembers the exact phrase that sprang into his mind near the end of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-894053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}