Ben Shelton reveals his healthy ‘addiction’ after the biggest win of his career
Ben Shelton’s rise up the tennis rankings shows no sign of slowing down and now he has achieved the biggest win of his career.
Runs to the semi-finals at the Australian Open and US Open sandwiched some disappointing results for Shelton in his breakthrough season on the ATP Tour.
Now the 21-year-old has claimed his first win against an opponent ranked in the top five, after ending Jannik Sinner’s impressive run of success in China with a win at the Shanghai Masters.
Shelton beat world No 4 Sinner 2-6 6-3 7-6(5) to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final, with his power-packed game proving to be too much for the player who beat Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev to win the China Open title last week.
Winning on the biggest stages in tennis is a habit Shelton has relished over the course of 2023 and he reflected on his progress after his win against Sinner.
“To think that a year and a half ago I was in college and a year ago playing Challengers, now I am on centre court in Shanghai with the crowd singing happy birthday. It is one of those pinch me moments,” he said.
“I had a lot of belief in my ability to serve and hang tough and to make it deep in sets. I trusted my fitness levels, being able to go the distance. That gave me a lot of confidence.
“My serve wasn’t working that well in the first set, I felt that he was really on top of me. I really started to find my groove and had one of my best serving days in the second and third sets.
“I am addicted to playing on the big stages. I have not had a normal upbringing or usual first year on Tour. It has been a little bit backwards but I am just trying to keep going and improving each week.”
Shelton also paid tribute to Sinner, as he admitted he is one of the players he admires more than any other.
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“It was definitely a really tough match,” he added. “I knew it was gonna be that way going in. Jannik’s been on a tear lately.
“He’s one of those guys in the Next Gen I’ve looked up to. He had a quick breakthrough & does things the right way.
“Being able to be out here & share the court with him & play an epic match like this, I was really excited to get the win.”
Sinner is now set to head to the end-of-season Next Gen Finals in Saudi Arabia as the favourite to take the title.
Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune have qualified for that lucrative event in Jeddah, but there are doubts over who will take up their places in an event conceived to promote future stars rather than current top ten players.
The ATP Next Gen Finals will be staged at the King Abdullah Sports City on indoor hard court from 28 November-2 December 2023, with a record US $2 million prize money on offer, following five successful editions of the tournament in Milan, Italy.
The event is open to players under the age of 21, with the top eight players who meet that criteria on the ATP Race offered entry into the end-of-season tournament.
The rewards for taking part ensure that adding an extra tournament to your schedule is well worthwhile, with $150,000 guaranteed to all players taking part.
There will be $32,500 paid out for each match win in the group stages, $113,500 for a semi-final win and $153,000 for a victory in the final of an event that has a total prize purse of $2million.
