Juan Carlos Ferrero told the one glaring weakness stopping Ben Shelton from winning Grand Slams
Brad Gilbert has identified the No 1 thing Juan Carlos Ferrero needs to address in Ben Shelton’s game when he begins coaching the American.
Shelton enjoyed a return to form at the Paris Masters over the past week, as he lost to second seed Carlos Alcaraz in a tight final on Sunday.
Despite being beaten in straight sets, 7-6 (5), 7-5, the left-hander was a break up for much of the second set, and had a mini break in the first-set tiebreak, too.
As a result, Andre Agassi’s former coach, Gilbert, thinks there are lots of reasons to be positive ahead of Ferrero linking up with Shelton and his father Bryan for the 2027 season.
Although he is No 4 in the world and beat Alcaraz on his way to a first Grand Slam final at the US Open in September, the 24-year-old comfortably has one of the worst returns in the top 50.
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Over the last 52 weeks, Shelton has a return game win rate of 14.6%. According to Tennis Ratio, only the likes of Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (10.7%), and Arthur Rinderknech (14.4%) are worse than him in that regard.
While Shelton believes his return on a slower court can be “elite” at times, Coco Gauff’s former coach Gilbert believes that part of his game has to improve if he wants to win majors. Indeed, the American claimed that no player has ever won a Grand Slam with that low a break rate.
He said on The Big T Podcast, “I really think that Ben is becoming way more comfortable in these big matchups. I think JCF (Ferrero) can add a lot to his game.
“Helping him with shot selection and surely the thing that he is going to work on most. Ben breaks at only 14% of the time. And no one has ever won a major breaking at that few of a percentage.”
Ferrero worked with Alcaraz for seven years, from the age of 15, and together they won six Grand Slams and reached No 1 in the world. Very few would have predicted the world No 1 would link up with the big-serving American, especially when he was linked with Rafael Jodar, among others.
Shelton has one of the best serves in the game but his returns, consistency, and shot selection are certainly areas he can improve. Whether Ferrero can help there remains to be seen.
