Ben Shelton one to watch after bold clay court play
Ben Shelton has opted against entering the US Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston in favour of jetting off to Europe.
With three events this week, all being played on clay across three different continents, there would appear on the surface to be little to choose between the events.
However, there are some crucial differences between the tournaments and Shelton might be out to gain an edge on his compatriots when it comes to preparaing for the French Open.
Instead of playing in Houston, Shelton is among the seeds for the Estoril Open played on traditional red clay in Europe.
Shelton has foregone playing on the Har-Tru clay at Houston, which may look like traditional red clay but plays slightly faster with the surface being closer to a standard hard court in terms of the way that it plays.
He might feel that he needs all the time on red clay that he can get having yet to play on a red clay surface during his senior career.
The eighth-seeded American will face off with France’s Constant Lestienne in the first round of the Estoril Open on Tuesday.
Shelton opted to team with Portugal’s Duarte Vale for the doubles in a bid to get even more time on court.
Vale and Shelton took on former World No 3 Dominic Thiem and João Sousa for a doubles loss and the American could be set for another meeting with the Austrian.
If both Thiem and Shelton win their openers they will be in for another singles battle.
Shelton is 6-6 for the season so far but has been buoyed by his run to the last eight at the Australian Open. Four of his six wins this campaign came in Melbourne.
He suffered first round exits at both Delray Beach and Acapulco and exited both Sunshine Double events at the Round of 64 stage.
His ranking of world No 39 has been enough to secure him the No 8 seeding in Estoril but despite the event sporting just 28 main draw entrants his path to the latter stages of the tournament is far from a formality.
The field has an open feel to it as top seed Casper Ruud is struggling for form and No 2 Hubert Hurkacz has traditionally struggled on clay.
Shelton is the only American in the field in Estoril with no other entries from across the pond.
The top four seeds all enjoy a bye into the second round.
Shelton might just derive benefit from his bold move and at the very least it shows that he is putting thought into his schedule and not taking the path of least resistance.
