The Ben Commandments: Ben "10-is" Shelton is writing his own rules

bluetrain4 said:
I'm trying to think of the other three father-son duos off the top of my head and am coming up blank.

If I remember correctly, Ruud's father never won a tournament. So, Petr and Seb Korda is all that immediately comes to mind.
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I posted this last night in another thread:

Also Ben/Bryan become the 4th father son duo to win tour titles. The other 3 - Phil/Taylor Dent, Ramanathan/Ramesh Krishnan, Petr/Sebastian Korda.
 
With his huge serve Ben is almost by definition more streaky than most and will be a problematic match-up for many. Deep runs and early exits should both be quite feasible in the next two years. We will see how he improves in key areas like return.

His backhand needs to become a strong shield, slices are fine to break up and to gain tempo. When his loopy cc forehand has enough depth it can open up the line for a flatter ball.
 
Today will be interesting.. Ben coming from Tokyo now in Europe jetlag etc could be a factor when he take on his first round match. If he wins today, it will Prove a lot imo.
 
merwy said:
Honestly, this kid is becoming scary good. Reminds me of Kyrgios with the big serve and big forehand combo (also just the way he hits his forehand). Such easy power but accuracy as well. Add to that a very solid backhand and athleticism. Why should he not win multiple slams?
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His volleys and approach shots Sometimes are a bit like Johnny Mcenroes used to be.. Nice.
 
Overall pretty good year for the youngster at the Slams:

AO - 3R (Mannarino)
RG - 3R (Auger-Aliassime)
W - 4R (Sinner)
USO - 3R (Tiafoe)
 
Shelton leads the h2h (2-0) against Brandon Nakashima, who he faces in the first round of the AO today.

Will Ben 10 make it a hat trick or will Nakashima finally turn the tables?
 
tennis24x7 said:
I wonder what happened to all the people who touted him as the next GS champ last year?
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Presumably they were busy watching him win five main-draw matches to get to the 2025 AO Semis. :D

Great showing so far. The road might end here though, because so far Sinner's opponents have been getting creamed.
 
flyingboris said:
Presumably they were busy watching him win five main-draw matches to get to the 2025 AO Semis. :D

Great showing so far. The road might end here though, because so far Sinner's opponents have been getting creamed.
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All against players not ranked in the top 15. Not that hard to do. He's accomplished little just like USO 23'.
He needs a sick or injured Sinner to win his semi.
 
flyingboris said:
Presumably they were busy watching him win five main-draw matches to get to the 2025 AO Semis. :D

Great showing so far. The road might end here though, because so far Sinner's opponents have been getting creamed.
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I am actually rooting for Shelton here. He may have a fighting chance, and he also looks leaner this year?
 
tennis24x7 said:
I am actually rooting for Shelton here. He may have a fighting chance, and he also looks leaner this year?
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He is also growing up. Fewer outraged posts on social media about his behavior. I'm hoping he sticks around the top of the rankings for a good long while.
 
Ben 10 into the semis in Melbourne. He will play world #1 Jannik Sinner in their 5th match overall. Sinner leads the h2h 4-1, after Shelton won their first meeting in Shanghai back in 2023. This is Shelton's second appearance in a major semifinal after previously making the US Open semis in 2023.
 
Ben Shelton went up an early break in set 1 and a chance to serve out set one, but Jannik Sinner proved too much to handle and closed the match out in straights, 76(2) 62 62. At the net, Ben 10 was passed. From the baseline, he was pinned to his backhand corner for most of the night.
 
tennis24x7 said:
Looks like an injury prevented him from his lights out serve. The young padawan will learn.
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I read that as "panda" at first. Lions, and Foxes, and Bears...the ATP Tour is a wild place to be these days.

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Ben is priming himself for another US Open run. I think the Sinner match was a big learning experience and there are positives to take from the opportunities he created for himself early.

Facing a monster returner like Sinner in his element will hopefully encourage Shelton to weaponise his serve even more and go hyper-aggressive in terms of placement, not just shape and speed.
 
Subway Tennis said:
Ben is priming himself for another US Open run. I think the Sinner match was a big learning experience and there are positives to take from the opportunities he created for himself early.

Facing a monster returner like Sinner in his element will hopefully encourage Shelton to weaponise his serve even more and go hyper-aggressive in terms of placement, not just shape and speed.
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As long as he takes 5 setters before qualies, semis unfortunately will run out of gas or be injured. It also looks like his dad instead of settling him down is clapping for his antics. I would be very very surprised if he even makes the semis in the US open. He can though serve his way to a semis in Wimbledon.
 
tennis24x7 said:
As long as he takes 5 setters before qualies, semis unfortunately will run out of gas or be injured. It also looks like his dad instead of settling him down is clapping for his antics. I would be very very surprised if he even makes the semis in the US open. He can though serve his way to a semis in Wimbledon.
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This first part is key. Burning his legs in early matches is never going to work for him. He clearly has a higher gear, and he needs to reach it the first week if he wants to go toe-to-toe with the best in the second week.

As far as the antics, it's up to him. Some people like them, some people don't, but if they're giving him energy, that's all that matters.
 
tennis24x7 said:
I would be very very surprised if he even makes the semis in the US open. He can though serve his way to a semis in Wimbledon.
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He already made a SF run at US Open as a far lesser player than he is now.

He is a SF calibre player multiple times over at hardcourt majors now. That question is answered. The question for him now is whether he can go a few steps further.

There are definitely some issues out of the match against Sinner. It’s crazy with the court side coaching pods that no one was able to give Shelton the info about Sinner cramping. That was really poor match management to not be able to put more pressure on Sinner at that stage.

A lot Ben can improve on for sure. He has a very high ceiling.
 
Subway Tennis said:
He already made a SF run at US Open as a far lesser player than he is now.

He is a SF calibre player multiple times over at hardcourt majors now. That question is answered. The question for him now is whether he can go a few steps further.

There are definitely some issues out of the match against Sinner. It’s crazy with the court side coaching pods that no one was able to give Shelton the info about Sinner cramping. That was really poor match management to not be able to put more pressure on Sinner at that stage.

A lot Ben can improve on for sure. He has a very high ceiling.
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Look at his draw. He has been lucky so far. He can easily be taken out by a Fonseca, Draper, Perricard even Zverev. His cake walk draws will not happen again.
 
Aabye5 said:
This first part is key. Burning his legs in early matches is never going to work for him. He clearly has a higher gear, and he needs to reach it the first week if he wants to go toe-to-toe with the best in the second week.

As far as the antics, it's up to him. Some people like them, some people don't, but if they're giving him energy, that's all that matters.
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Unfortunately it is not giving him energy. He definitely can win a slam but needs to tone down a little.
 
Aabye5 said:
This first part is key. Burning his legs in early matches is never going to work for him. He clearly has a higher gear, and he needs to reach it the first week if he wants to go toe-to-toe with the best in the second week.
As far as the antics, it's up to him. Some people like them, some people don't, but if they're giving him energy, that's all that matters.
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See below for talk of a higher level that I think he has within himself.

And I'm one of those that thinks he needs the "antics" and excitement to keep his energy level and focus up. The big results haven't come quite yet, but he is still improving steadily.
Subway Tennis said:
Ben is priming himself for another US Open run. I think the Sinner match was a big learning experience and there are positives to take from the opportunities he created for himself early.
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Honestly, I was very pleasantly surprised at Shelton's ability to sustain LONG baseline rallies with Sinner. Jannik is a monster in those situations, and most players simply cannot stay in those rallies for very long.

Ben was able to hang in there, and he did it over and over again. He showed a level of focus and consistency that he often seems to be lacking...

And that tells me that he has that level/ability inside of him, but he needs that big motivation/stage in order to really tap into it. I hope he does so more often going forward.
 
tennis24x7 said:
Look at his draw. He has been lucky so far. He can easily be taken out by a Fonseca, Draper, Perricard even Zverev. His cake walk draws will not happen again.
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Cakewalk draw is nonsense, sorry. At this AO Shelton had to play Nakashima as a round 1 opponent. That’s a crap first round draw for a seeded player if you know how dangerous Nakashima is on a surface that favours good servers.

In his 2 “cakewalk” major SF runs so far Shelton had to face Tiafoe, Monfils, Sonego, Shapovalov, T Paul, Thiem, Karatsev and PCB. With the exception of Sonego these are all guys who have made SFs or Finals at a major. In both his SF runs it took the eventual tournament winner to take him out.

Draper is a nice comparison for Shelton. They are both big and powerful athletic lefties on a serious ascent at the moment, and I’m a fan of both players. It will be interesting to see how they fare. I just hope Draper is careful to manage what is quite a serious hip injury at the moment.
 
robyrolfo said:
See below for talk of a higher level that I think he has within himself.

And I'm one of those that thinks he needs the "antics" and excitement to keep his energy level and focus up. The big results haven't come quite yet, but he is still improving steadily.

Honestly, I was very pleasantly surprised at Shelton's ability to sustain LONG baseline rallies with Sinner. Jannik is a monster in those situations, and most players simply cannot stay in those rallies for very long.

Ben was able to hang in there, and he did it over and over again. He showed a level of focus and consistency that he often seems to be lacking...

And that tells me that he has that level/ability inside of him, but he needs that big motivation/stage in order to really tap into it. I hope he does so more often going forward.
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Agree.
 
Subway Tennis said:
Cakewalk draw is nonsense, sorry. At this AO Shelton had to play Nakashima as a round 1 opponent. That’s a crap first round draw for a seeded player if you know how dangerous Nakashima is on a surface that favours good servers.

In his 2 “cakewalk” major SF runs so far Shelton had to face Tiafoe, Monfils, Sonego, Shapovalov, T Paul, Thiem, Karatsev and PCB. With the exception of Sonego these are all guys who have made SFs or Finals at a major. In both his SF runs it took the eventual tournament winner to take him out.

Draper is a nice comparison for Shelton. They are both big and powerful athletic lefties on a serious ascent at the moment, and I’m a fan of both players. It will be interesting to see how they fare. I just hope Draper is careful to manage what is quite a serious hip injury at the moment.
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Shelton on clay is my most intriguing watch. He really seem to take to the surface. How many people can make the 3rd round of the French in their second year of playing on European clay.
 
Subway Tennis said:
Cakewalk draw is nonsense, sorry. At this AO Shelton had to play Nakashima as a round 1 opponent. That’s a crap first round draw for a seeded player if you know how dangerous Nakashima is on a surface that favours good servers.

In his 2 “cakewalk” major SF runs so far Shelton had to face Tiafoe, Monfils, Sonego, Shapovalov, T Paul, Thiem, Karatsev and PCB. With the exception of Sonego these are all guys who have made SFs or Finals at a major. In both his SF runs it took the eventual tournament winner to take him out.

Draper is a nice comparison for Shelton. They are both big and powerful athletic lefties on a serious ascent at the moment, and I’m a fan of both players. It will be interesting to see how they fare. I just hope Draper is careful to manage what is quite a serious hip injury at the moment.
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If you say my cakewalk is nonsense then Nakashima dangerous is utter nonsense. Unless someone has come to the semis of a GS or finals atleast of a M1000, he is not dangerous. He has a grand total of 1 title. Especially if we are talking about Ben winning a GS here.
 
tennis24x7 said:
If you say my cakewalk is nonsense then Nakashima dangerous is utter nonsense. Unless someone has come to the semis of a GS or finals atleast of a M1000, he is not dangerous. He has a grand total of 1 title. Especially if we are talking about Ben winning a GS here.
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Im talking about Nakashima as a first round opponent. That’s a crap draw for a seeded player. And you ignored the SEVEN other players he’d faced in the 2 supposed cupcake draws who were all guys who’d made the SF of a major :-D

If you don’t like Ben and it’s personal that’s fine, but making out that he had cupcakes is letting your emotion get in the way of assessing the SF runs he made.
 
Subway Tennis said:
Im talking about Nakashima as a first round opponent. That’s a crap draw for a seeded player. And you ignored the SEVEN other players he’d faced in the 2 supposed cupcake draws who were all guys who’d made the SF of a major :-D

If you don’t like Ben and it’s personal that’s fine, but making out that he had cupcakes is letting your emotion get in the way of assessing the SF runs he made.
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Although, from Ben's perspective, he enjoys playing Nakashima. De Minaur isn't easy for Zverev or Medvedev, but Sinner will take him in his draw any day of the week.
 
Subway Tennis said:
Im talking about Nakashima as a first round opponent. That’s a crap draw for a seeded player. And you ignored the SEVEN other players he’d faced in the 2 supposed cupcake draws who were all guys who’d made the SF of a major :-D

If you don’t like Ben and it’s personal that’s fine, but making out that he had cupcakes is letting your emotion get in the way of assessing the SF runs he made.
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I have nothing against Ben, I like Ben, infact I think he brings a breath of fresh air to the ATP. He has some spunk unlike most ATP players. I am afraid he is going to go the Monfils way if he does not get serious.
 
tennis24x7 said:
I have nothing against Ben, I like Ben, infact I think he brings a breath of fresh air to the ATP. He has some spunk unlike most ATP players. I am afraid he is going to go the Monfils way if he does not get serious.
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No, not sure he's at too much risk of that. Monfils was undisciplined. Shelton has actual limitations on his movement.
 
Aabye5 said:
No, not sure he's at too much risk of that. Monfils was undisciplined. Shelton has actual limitations on his movement.
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I agree here. I think Ben is actually pretty focused and disciplined, and determined to win something big (and willing to work really hard for it).

That said, I think Monfils probably had/has more natural tennis talent, and is a more natural mover, while Ben is more raw athleticism and power being applied to tennis.
 
Ben 10 is looking to book his place in the quarterfinals and he'll get the chance to do it by playing against fellow Yankee Brandon Nakashima. The East Coast v West Coast battle heats up, with their second match of the year. Shelton has won all three previous meetings.
 
Disappointment for no. 13 seed Ben Shelton early on Saturday at the Masters Series 1000 tournament in Miami, where he faced world no. 182 Coleman Wong in second-round action. The American had two break points at 4-3, 40-15 in the first set, but couldn't convert either of them. In the tiebreak which ended the first set Shelton led 3-0 with two serves to follow, but Wong played superbly to take seven points in a row and the set.

Shelton played solidly enough to take the second set 6-2 with two breaks of serve. However, in the final set Wong saved two break points in the first game and broke his opponent at 3-2 before holding to 5-2. The American responded by winning twelve of the next thirteen points, including ten in a row, to level at 5-all. But at 5-6 Shelton had to save two match points to force another tiebreak, which Wong won by 7 points to 5 for a memorable 7-6(3), 2-6, 7-6(5) victory.
 
Ben 10 reaches the QF at Wimbledon, going one step beyond his dad. How much further can he go?
 
It has been something of an up-and-down year so far for Ben Shelton. However, the American reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open in January and the fourth round at the French Open last month, and now he is into the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. Jannik Sinner beat him in Melbourne, while Carlos Alcaraz defeated the American in Paris.

On Wednesday Shelton will face Sinner again for a place in the last four at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Earlier on Monday the American beat another Italian, Lorenzo Sonego, to reach the last eight. Sonego won the first set with one break, but after that Shelton upped the pace and played superbly to impose his power game on the Italian. The final score was 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(1), 7-5.
 
Djokovic withdrawing gave Shelton the 8 seed, should have a decently easy route to the R16 where he should play Med. Don't think he wins that if Medvedev is playing well.
 
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