THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 6, 2024

Ben Shelton

Press Conference

B. SHELTON/D. Shapovalov

6-7, 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Carlos said yesterday that when it gets to a fifth set, he feels extremely confident and like he's going to win the match. You played five-set matches this week. Do you have that same feeling going into the fifth set?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I don't know. Maybe a little bit the same. I definitely feel confident in how fit I am right now, how prepared I am to go the distance. I know I'm going to fight until the end out there.

So I think that, yeah, my confidence rises as I get deeper in the match. I just think that the more reps that I get throughout the match, the better I play.

So, yeah, I would agree.

Q. Ben, after the match you said to your dad, We're back, Big Dog. Do you want to talk about how that feels to equal your dad's achievement here?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, pretty cool. I think a lot more impressive that he was able to do it back in the day, beating the No. 2 player in the world as 50-something in the world.

But, yeah, really happy that we get to kind of share this moment together again. Not again, but together for the first time.

Yeah, I'm just looking forward to this next match. You know, we've been working really well together on the court. I think that with the new coaching rule, I think that the information that he's able to give me during the match, he can help keep me in the right state of mind.

Yeah, I've really enjoyed the kind of back and forth that we've been able to have during the matches.

Q. You currently are tied with Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard for the highest serve speed, 140 miles per hour. How does it feel being able to achieve that here at Wimbledon, especially that Giovanni is a big server as well?

BEN SHELTON: I've really been focusing on trying not to hit big serves during this tournament. I think that three out of five sets playing a lot of matches, you want to try to save your arm as much as possible. My off-pace serves have been working really well, so I've been trying to mix it up and change it up.

I think it's important every once in a while to speed it up and show the guy that I can hit the serve that's big, so you do have to respect it and be ready for it.

You know, I know that I have that in my arsenal and I know that have bigger serves than that also. But yeah, I kind of just have been trying to mix things up while I'm out there.

Q. How much when you were growing up did you ask your dad about his playing days? How much did he talk about them maybe without being asked? And now to this day, how much of a conversation is there between the two of you about things maybe he remembers or things he thinks could help you to know based on his playing days?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, he's not really a guy who likes to talk about himself. So he didn't really volunteer that information when I was younger. And I was playing other sports and could care less about tennis and his playing days when I was younger. That's not something we really talked about.

But within the last couple of years when I came out here on tour, it's more like advice given the experience that he had rather than him just story-telling.

Q. You talk about you and your dad having a kind of rapport now. He has been your coach for a long time. But how long did it take to get to that place where you're, Okay, stop talking now? Or you are able to tell him, I need to hear you? And you said when he helps your mindset, is he talking more strategy type things or just kind of cues that help you stay focused and calm?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it's a little bit of both. Sometimes he knows that I'm doing the right thing. I just need to stay calm and be in the right state of mind. And sometimes he sees a tactical error that I make, and we want to make a correction out on the court so we can keep moving forward because three out of five sets you have to be able to make adjustments to win matches 'cause there's too much time out there for the other guy to figure things out as well.

But I think that we started working really well together when we got out here on tour. He was obviously my coach in college. That was tough because there's 12 - or sorry - 11 other guys on the team. I'm the coach's son, so he has to show that there's no favoritism, which I understand. But also, I'm running more sprints than everyone else when I do something wrong or show up late. I'm getting chewed out for more. If I lose a match, it's a bigger deal than everyone else, which I understand why he had to do that to keep the team in the right place.

So things were much more difficult then than when we got out on tour. So after not working with him or traveling with him for eight months while he still had the job at the university, and he came out on tour with me, I kind of really kind of really started to appreciate everything he was bringing to the table for me because I was missing it during that time.

Q. He doesn't make you run sprints anymore, does he?

BEN SHELTON: That's kind of my fitness coach's job. He stays out of that a little bit more. It was more like a punishment thing back then.

Q. Speaking of college, I was talking to Patrick Hesson after the match, and those guys were out there living and dying with every point, top to bottom. I was wondering what it means to you to have so many people from that early in your journey on this run with you? And, also, how many people are here?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it's funny you mention Patrick Hesson because he was the team manager for the University of Florida team when I was 14 years old. So sometimes my dad would have him drive me to school after I practiced in the morning at the university. He was just, like, one of those cool guys that I always looked up to.

The way that he's been cheering me on this week is the exact same as he was for the team when we were at Florida. So he is one of those guys I need to get him tickets every match, and needs to be as close to the court as possible.

I feed off that energy. He brings that college atmosphere that I love. He keeps telling me we're going to five. It doesn't matter. We're going to win it in five, win it in five. It has worked so far this week.

He was supposed to leave tomorrow, but hopefully he stays around a couple more days.

Q. You spoke a bit earlier about five sets. For some it's a schedule problem. For some it takes a big toll on the body. What do you appreciate most about five sets in tennis?

BEN SHELTON: There's a lot of things I appreciate about five sets. The amount of time you are out there on the court. It's a physical test. You have to be ready to go the distance, and you have to be fit and in shape.

There's also a lot of time for guys to make adjustments, so you can't just really blow a guy off the court in one way. Most of the time you have to be able to figure things out and make your own adjustments when the guy makes changes and starts figuring it out.

Today Shapo started doing a really good job in the fourth set of returning my serve, finding a way to neutralize, so I had to change it up. In the fifth set I served almost every serve into the body and serve and volleyed.

I think that's the part that I like the most about it: the game within the game.

Q. I see growing up with sports you were with your father a lot. Now he is with you at Wimbledon. How does that feel?

BEN SHELTON: I think it's really cool for us to be able to share this moment together. It's something that I don't know if we thought that we would be in this position at this point in our lives, but really just grateful for everything that's happened so far. Yeah, going to continue to work and try to move forward.

Q. I'm curious, coming into a tournament like this only the second time playing a grass season, was your goal I just want to do better than I did last year? What were your goals coming in? Do those change now if that was even was a goal or if that was in your mind at all, does that change, and now are you thinking what?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah. I think that last year I didn't really start to feel good on the grass until I got to Wimbledon. So my goal this year was to play one extra week and hopefully feel a little better a little earlier. That didn't end up happening. It kind of got to the same spot where I didn't feel great until I got here. Something about playing here.

Yeah, I'm just trying to keep moving forward or keep improving. I think everyone tells me it's a surface that suits your game, but that's never reality until it happens.

I think that there are so many things that I have to continue to work on this surface, and it's tough because the season is so short, and you want to try to figure out things really quick, but you don't feel like you have any time.

What I'm most excited about still being here is this is four more matches at least that I'm playing on grass, 15 sets. So I'm feeling more comfortable in each match, and I think that that's all I need, just a little bit of time.

Q. After the match Patrick kind of lit up when he was recalling just hanging out with you in the dorms in Gainesville and how cool it was. My question is, can you tell us a little bit about what that was like? And when you were just back in the dorms, did you imagine you would come this far and be here now at Wimbledon in such a short time?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it was kind of funny for me because the pinnacle of tennis or something that was achievable for me in tennis was playing at the University of Florida. So when I was a kid and I saw these guys who were on the team, they were superstars to me. Patrick was just a team manager, but still, just because he was part of the team, he was also kind of a superstar.

That was kind of I guess how closed off my mind was on how far I could make it in the sport or what was possible. So after knowing those guys and growing up around them, being able to attend the University of Florida, that was it for me. That was my dream, what I wanted to do.

Everything that's happened since then has kind of been quick and hard to believe, but those were kind of my older brothers. I was just a little kid kind of running around the facility, practicing in the morning with my dad and my sister.

So with him being here and sharing these moments, it's kind of crazy to think about how far we've come and where I came from.

Q. Just looking ahead at the round of 16 with Jannik, looking back at the match that you played last year, do you think it's going to be a disadvantage for you to have played five sets today while he had the day off?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah. I mean, obviously a day off is better than playing five sets the day before you play three out of five. I was telling my coaches that physically after this match today, it's the best that I've felt in the last two or three months.

I've been dealing with a lot of stuff on and off, and a lot of those issues have kind of subdued. So I'm really happy with where my body is at right now. Yeah, I'm 100% ready to go the distance. If it happens to go five sets again tomorrow, I'll be ready to go the whole way.

Q. What are your thoughts about the challenge facing Sinner?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I'm really excited. We have played three times. He's got me two of them. I think that it's always good to have played somebody before, beaten them, lost against them. You know kind of what it feels like going into the match.

He's one of the guys who has had the most success on tour so far this year as the World No. 1. I think it's a great opportunity for me, a great challenge and test. The biggest challenge in tennis playing the top-ranked player in the world.

But, you know, I'm never somebody to be scared going into a match or feel unprepared. I'm always confident in my abilities no matter who is on the other side of the net.

I'm going to go out there and, like I said, try to problem-solve, figure things out as it goes and, yeah, just compete as hard as I can.