American male players are rising towards the top in large numbers after quiet years.
One of the most talked about players at the Australian Open in tennis has been the American Ben Shelton. In itself, for a 20-year-old player ranked 89th in the world to advance to the quarterfinals in his second Grand Slam tournament is a rare feat.
However, Shelton has become a topic of conversation because the trip to Australia and the pre-tournament in New Zealand is the first trip abroad in his life. That’s pretty incredible for a tennis player of this level.
For example, even as juniors, European players travel hard around Europe and the world on competition trips. As a professional, rising to the positions that qualify for Grand Slam tournaments usually requires playing in many countries. However, there are so many tournaments in the US that this is possible. Shelton hasn’t been abroad, not even on vacation.
Shelton has strong tennis genes. His father Bryan Shelton was at his best in the world ranking at number 55 and won two ATP tournaments.
Left-handed 193cm back Ben Shelton has a strong serve and palm. He is a graduate of university tennis, whose ranking was still over 400 last July.
After that, the pace was fast. Shelton won the Cincinnati Masters tournament in August, ranked fifth in the world at the time Casper Ruudin. In her first Grand Slam competition at the US Open, Shelton lost in the opening round, but at the end of the year she won no fewer than three tournaments on the challenger tour. The ranking already rose to one hundred.
At the turn of the year, the first trip abroad was ahead. The tournaments in Adelaide and Auckland did not go particularly well, but the Australian Open was a blast. Shelton made it to the top eight until eventually losing to his compatriot To Tommy Paul. Shelton rises to number 43 on the new world list, immediately Emil Ruusuvuoren after.
– Maybe it helped me that there were no big expectations and no feeling that I should succeed. I was able to be myself and play freely, Shelton said.
Shelton is part of a new surge of American male players. In recent years, the great power of tennis has been on the men’s side for a long time in the Netherlands. For example, the previous Grand Slam win is Andy Roddick’s 2003 US Open Championship.
Now there are several young American players on the rise. Tommy Paul, 25, who defeated Shelton, thus advanced to the semi-finals of the Australian Open and enters the top 20. Taylor Fritz25, is listed eighth and also for example Frances Tiafoe24, and Sebastian Korda, 22, have performed strongly. No less than ten US players are among the top 50 in the world list to be published next Monday.
One example of the rise of American players was that there were three Americans (Paul, Shelton, Korda) in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the first time since 2000.
Tiafoe was the first American man in more than four years to reach a Grand Slam semifinal at last fall’s US Open. Paul did the same trick now in the very next tournament
– I’ve heard since I was young that we need new Americans. The coaches have told us that. It’s etched in my head. We all want to be successful, Paul said.
– I think there is a lot of hope in American tennis. “I’m looking forward to being a part of it,” Shelton stated.
Sources: CNN, tennis.com