Ben Shelton Is Just Getting Started
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"I'm a pretty boring guy," Ben Shelton says. "What you see is what you get."
But what American tennis fans have been seeing in Shelton, just 21 years old, is anything but boring. He made his debut on the professional tour in summer 2022, and quickly rose in the ranks. His first time ever out of the country he flew to Australia, and made it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Last summer at the U.S. Open, he made it all the way to the semifinals, before losing in a memorable match to Novak Djokovic.
When Shelton turned pro, he forwent his final years of college eligibility. He had been playing tennis at the University of Florida, with the Gators men's tennis team, where he made huge waves, including helping the team win the national championship in 2021, and then winning the men's singles title in 2022.
He misses college, he tells Town & Country ahead of the 2024 Indian Wells tournament. "I really miss the team aspect, the team atmosphere. Being out here on tour, it can be a lonely feeling that you're out there on an island by yourself. When you're in college, you're out there competing next to all your best friends." He's tried to bring the energy and camaraderie of his college team on tour, by spending time with other players. "It's a tough balance being out on tour and having guys who are your friends, but also competitors at the same time. To be able to be friendly with those guys, but also be able to flip the switch and be in competitive mode when you're playing—it's tough."
It's been a big transition from Gainesville, where he grew up and then attended college, to traveling worldwide on the ATP Tour. "You have to take a step back sometimes to give yourself some perspective on the position that I'm in: After being in college a year and a half ago to being out here on tour," he says. "It's a big change in terms of lifestyle and there's so much to learn out here. I don't have that much experience at this level and I take everything as a learning experience—I'm building to something long term. That's how I keep the expectations off my shoulders."
Despite that sentiment, there are still mighty expectations surrounding this young American player—including this week, at Indian Wells, the unofficial fifth Grand Slam. "I'm feeling really good," Shelton says about the upcoming tournament. "I've had some time to prepare here. It's been a good few days of preparation; my body feels good and it's always a nice and fun place to be and play. So I'm ready to get started."
He's just getting used to the pace of tour, and the different tournaments. Unlike some of his peers, he hasn't played at Indian Wells multiple times—he has been here just once before, in. "It was a lot tougher last year when I'd never been to these tournaments before and I wasn't really sure what to expect," he says. "But now that I'm on year two, and I've seen a lot of these places, I feel a lot more comfortable, and a lot more sure of myself and what I'm gonna see."
That doesn't mean he no longer feels like a newbie. "I still feel a little bit like the new kid on tour, but definitely not the way I felt last year," he says.
Despite having only done the current leg of the tour once before, Shelton already knows that he loves this particular stretch. Indian Wells is quickly followed by the Miami Open, and the two Masters 1000 events back-to-back, sometimes called the "Sunshine Double," feel special, he says. Does he feel any added pressure when he plays in the U.S.? "No," Shelton says quickly. "I don't feel any more pressure here than any match anywhere. I take it all the same." In fact, he clarifies, "I think it's a little bit easier to play in front of the American crowds because when things aren't going well, you do have that support behind you to get you going. No added pressure—it definitely helps."
Tennis media, particularly American media, is quick to anoint a player as the "Next Big Thing." In summer 2022, ESPN, wrote "Ben Shelton is poised to be the next big thing in American men's tennis." So did USA Today, arguing very similarly, "NCAA champion Ben Shelton could be the next big thing in American men's tennis." CBS Sports, last year: "Ben Shelton is the big-serving, big-smiling face of an American men's tennis resurgence." And just last month, in ESPN's "Way-too-early Grand Slam predictions for the rest of 2024," Shelton was named as a contender for the 2024 U.S. Open, writing, "he might just be the eagerly awaited American man to snap the drought in major titles."
Shelton tries to ignore the chatter. "Noise is noise," he says, sounding much wiser than his 21 years. "I choose to focus on the things that the people in my inner circle, the people that I'm really close to, the things that they think and they say about me. I'm not as worried about the media or the outside attention, or comments on me or my game, because me and my team have a pretty clear idea of where I want to go and the things that I want to develop. Those are the things that I choose to focus on."
Key to that inner circle is his dad, Bryan Shelton, a former pro player who went on to coach NCAA tennis, becoming the first coach to win a Division I NCAA women's and men's national championship. (Before he turned pro, Shelton was coached by his dad at the University of Florida.) Working with his dad, Shelton says, has been a lot of fun. "Any player-coach relationship has to be delicate, and it has to be even more delicate when it's also a father-son relationship. My dad does a great job balancing the two and he does a great job knowing when to put on the coach hat, and when to put on the dad hat."
While parents—it's usually dads—coaching their children is a staple of the sport (see: the Williams sisters and their dad, Richard), it doesn't always go well (see: Jennifer Capriati, Mary Pierce, and many, many more). As Simon Briggs wrote a few years back in the Telegraph on the "tennis dad phenomenon," many tennis parents are tempted to see their child "as an asset." He writes, "In most cases, though, close involvement in your son or daughter's career tends to blur personal and professional boundaries in a manner that could keep a shrink in business for years."
But so far, all is well for the Sheltons. Shelton says of his dad, "It's really important in this type of relationship that I really respect him as a coach, and have confidence in him as a coach, because I don't just see it as my dad telling me what to do when I'm out there on the court. I see it as a world class, high level coach giving me advice."
The future of American men's tennis is bright, thanks to Shelton and other young stars, like Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, and more. "I don't wanna put expectations on anyone else or myself," he says—cautiously, wisely. "I think we're going in the right direction with the way results have been trending and, we had a Grand Slam champion on the women's side last year," he says, referencing Coco Gauff's exceptional 2023 run. "I'm sure a lot of people would love to see one on the men's side. But I think we just have to wait and see. We have a lot of talent, and a lot of players out here who are so fun to watch that the crowds can get behind."
But he's keeping quiet about any goals he has for the year. "I get this question a lot," he says with a laugh. "I know the media wants some quantifiable goal that I'm searching for. But I like to keep those things between me and my team." He points out: "It's lose-lose when you make those claims in media. They say that you're shooting too low or too high. So I'll keep that between me and my team."
Taking our cue from him, we'll just have to wait and see.
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