- Playing Style
- Personal Bio
- What The Bros Say
- How Far Can He Go
- Reasons To Support
Ben Shelton’s biggest weapon is without doubt his incredible serve. It wouldn’t be exaggerating to say he has one of, if not the most powerful, serve on the ATP tour.
At the 2023 US Open, he showed everyone by consistently serving bullets, sometimes up to 149 mph. In his 4th round match against Tommy Paull, he even managed to win a service game in 63 seconds, hitting two 149 mph serves.
His second serve is almost as difficult to return since he puts an incredible amount of spin into the ball.
Shelton generates his serve speed mostly through his height, explosiveness, and technique which resembles Andy Roddick’s. Perhaps one of the best servers of all time.
So far in his career, Shelton has an average serve speed of 141 mph, this has helped him win an impressive 82 percent of his service games in his career.
Not only is Ben Shelton very explosive in his serve motion, but he also moves very fast on the court.
He is not afraid of making use of his excellent net play or hitting a drop shot from time to time.
“I love to get to the net, be able to use some of my hand skills, athletic skills, and going up to get the ball is one of my favorite things to do,” Ben said in a recent interview.
Shelton also loves playing serve and volley and constantly tries to further develop this area of his game. He partly thanks his explosiveness to his years as an American football player which is the sport he started out loving the most as a kid.
His groundstrokes are very aggressive and consistent, but can sometimes lack variation, which can make him look reckless during matches. So far, his biggest weakness seems to be his backhand, which is less powerful and consistent than his forehand.
His forehand is also one of his big strengths and, just like his serve, is one of the biggest shots on tour at the moment.
Article by Sebastien Van der Voordt
Ben Shelton Personal Bio
Ben Shelton was born in Atlanta, Georgia (US). He was born into a very athletic family and grew up surrounded by a couple of successful tennis players. His dad Bryan Shelton was a professional player between 1989 and 1997. He reached a career-high of 55 and is now his son’s coach.
Ben’s uncle, Todd Witsken, also went pro and reached a career-high of 43. Shelton’s mother, Lisa Witsken Shelton, was a successful junior player and his older sister Emma played college tennis in Florida. With Ben already reaching a grand slam semi-final and a top 20 spot in the ATP rankings, he could probably already claim the title of most successful athlete in the Shelton family at just 20 years old.
But despite growing up in a tennis-oriented family Ben Shelton didn’t immediately fall in love with the game. As mentioned above Shelton started out as an American football player with the full support of his dad but eventually, he turned to tennis. He only started playing regularly when he was 12 years old.
Later, he started playing for his college team and won the national championship with them as well as the NCAA Singles Championship. Shelton thought about playing ITF tournaments abroad as a junior, but his dad advised against this saying:
“Why go overseas when you’re not the best in the U.S. yet?”
Shelton made his debut on the ATP tour at the Atlanta Open in 2022. In the same year, he got a wildcard to the Cincinnati Open where he beat Casper Ruud. His first win against a top-10 player. His results were rewarded with another wildcard for the 2022 US Open where he lost in the first round, in five sets, to Nuno Borges.
Shelton’s breakthrough performance on the professional stage came in 2023 during his Australian Open debut. He got to the quarter-finals where he ultimately lost in a close battle against Tommy Paul. In the same year, Ben Shelton had his best run in a grand slam yet reaching the semi-final of the US Open after beating none other than…Tommy Paul in round four and Frances Tiafoe in the quarter-finals.
Eventually, in the semifinal, Novak Djokovic turned out too strong and beat him comfortably in three sets and went on to win the tournament winning his 24th grand slam title.
There is no doubt Ben Shelton is one of the most promising young players on the ATP tour at the moment. His strength, speed, and overall playstyle fit in modern tennis. On top of that, he is not a one-dimensional baseliner but a very creative player.
At the moment it seems like he is still a level below the likes of Alcaraz and Sinner but there is a good chance he will eventually catch up with them. In order to beat those names Shelton will probably need some more experience.
So far Shelton has only won 3 of his 11 matches against top 20 players, so it seems he will need more time to crack the code of the highest-ranked players.
It’s remarkable how he seems to get to his best level on the biggest tennis stages, especially given his young age.
His best results so far in his young career are a semifinal at the US Open and a quarter-final at the Australian Open. Shelton seems to play without stress and really thrives on the energy of big crowds.
How Far Can He Go
It’s hard to predict Ben Shelton’s future since he obviously is still young. He definitely needs more experience on the pro tour: so far Shelton has only played nine matches on clay and has only been able to win two.
On grass, Ben Shelton has only played five matches of which he lost three. So right now it’s hard to say how he will develop on these surfaces. He already is a great hard-court player, but in the future, he could definitely become dangerous on grass as well, thanks to his big serve and his versatility.
Clay might become his weak spot since his serve and groundstrokes will lose more speed. In this year’s Roland Garros, in which Shelton had his first-ever appearance, he didn’t manage to get past the first round after a 4-set battle against the Italian Lorenzo Sonego. With more experience on the professional tour, he will probably build up more consistency and will be able to go even further in ATP tournaments.
But what Shelton has proven already is his ability to pull through in important moments in Grand Slams.
This is obviously one of the most important qualities of every (future) Grand Slam winner.
He has shown this by being on the winning end of a couple of close matches in his Australian Open debut as well as in the 2023 US Open where he reached the semifinals.
Strangely enough though, Shelton has not been able to reach his best level in Masters 1000 tournaments yet. His best result is his third round in the Cincinnati Masters of 2022. This shows once again that even though he is a great player with a lot of potential, he still needs more time and experience on the professional tour.
Winning a grand slam in the era of Alcaraz, Sinner, Medvedev, and Novak Djokovic, who doesn’t seem to be running out of gas any time soon, will not be an easy task for him. But, he seems very ambitious, focused, and ready to put in the hard work.
Ben Shelton plays with a lot of enthusiasm. His passion for the game is visible when he is on court. His playstyle is very entertaining and he loves to put on a show for the crowd. He is a versatile, well-rounded player and is not afraid of taking risks.
Personality-wise, Shelton seems to stay very grounded despite being very hyped by (social) media.
A quality that will definitely help him go even further as a tennis player.
One thing that Shelton could probably improve on behavior-wise is his excessive, sometimes unnecessary celebrations. In the 2023 Indian Wells tournament, for example, Fabio Fognini didn’t appreciate Shelton’s celebration after unforced errors and double faults. He even complained about it to the umpire.
Because of that kind of behavior, Shelton will probably be polarizing throughout his career, since many tennis fans still don’t like to see players give away too much emotion.
But other than that, Ben Shelton is a likable competitor and he will definitely put up more amazing performances in the future. With time, he will only get more dangerous and might even end up with a grand slam to his name.
