WATCH: Ben Shelton hits incredible winner as Andy Murray tips rising star for SW19 success
Rising star Ben Shelton played his first-ever top-level match on grass at the Queen’s Club Championship on Monday and judging by his performance he certainly has a great future ahead of him.
It was a debut to remember at the ATP 500 event for the 20-year-old as he defeated fellow American JJ Wolf to reach the second round, although he didn’t have it all his own way as he won via two tie-breakers with the final score 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2).
Both sets took over an hour to complete and Wolf had the initial advantage in the opening set as he broke in game two before Shelton returned the favour in game five. The youngster then edged the tie-breaker.
The second set had a similar theme although Shelton was the one to break early to race into a 3-0 lead.
The point of the match came in game four on the Wolf serve at 30-30 after a brilliant approach shot from Shelton just managed to clear the net.
Wolf, though, scrambled and played an equally impressive volley only for his opponent to reply with an attempted lob before the world No 47 pulled off an audacious 360 degree smash – not only playing the ball above his head, but also behind his back.
It would have been a good enough smash to beat most players, but the 6ft 4in (1.93m) Shelton stood still before a jump helped him to put the overhead away in brilliant fashion.
See for yourself…
Quite impressive for a player who only set foot on a grass court for the first time last week.
“Tuesday! Last Tuesday was actually my first time ever hitting on a grass court. Any type of play – I’d never even stepped on one before. So, that was my first day on a grass court,” he told Tennis TV earlier this week.
Shelton, who will take on Lorenzo Musetti in the second round, has enjoyed an astonishing 12 months as just over a year ago he found himself outside the top 500 in the ATP Rankings, but he strung together a series of great performances and currently sits at a career-high of No 35.
Former world No 1 and three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray has backed the youngster to impress on grass over the next couple of weeks.
“I think Ben Shelton will have a good grass court season. I think his game will be very well suited to grass with the way he plays, his serve and everything, he’s very athletic, likes to come forward so I think he’ll do well,” Murray said.
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