US OPEN

August 23, 2024

Ben Shelton

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Ben, welcome. Your thoughts as you get ready for the tournament this week.

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I'm really excited. I'm in a really good place after Cincinnati. I thought I played some good ball there. I'm happy with where I am in my season. I feel fresh mentally and physically.

Yeah, excited for this week. Obviously my favorite tournament of the year.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You have had great results at slams already in your career. I think you've only played eight; quarterfinals Australia in your second, and then semifinal last year which was your fifth appearance. I just want you to reflect how much it means for you to have that level of success, especially, as you say, you're not really developed into the player you feel you're going to be in years to go come. To have that success so early when you're not really the tennis player you want to be, what does that mean to you confidence-wise?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it means a lot. For me, being a competitor, it means even more, because I think that more than anything, three-out-of-five sets is a competitive and physical test. It's a war. It's a little different than two-out-of-three sets. I think there's a lot more to think about. If you're willing or if you're able to go the distance in a five-set match.

That's one of the things I love about Grand Slams and I think helps me excel at the Grand Slam level. So yeah, any time I get to play in this three-out-of-five format, preferably when I'm not also playing doubles, I think I'm playing well.

Q. You opted not to play at the Olympics, and you played the full North American season on the hard court. Just wondering if you could analyze what you achieved against what you expected to achieve. Also wanted to know if you were watching the other American players playing at the Olympics?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, definitely watching the other American players at the Olympics. Really cool to see Tommy and Taylor get that medal, bronze medal in doubles, and obviously Raj and Austin fighting for the gold. I was tuned in, for sure. Also really cool to see my good friend Chris Eubanks get his first Olympics experience.

But yeah, it was a tough decision, but the way that our schedule is, I think it's a good decision and a decision that I had to make. The schedule is so long, there's no breaks. If I was to go back again to Europe, another surface change, I think with where I'm at right now, it just would have been too much.

I'm really happy with how these four tournaments have gone. I didn't perform well in every single one. But, you know, making semifinals in Washington after losing first round last year, and quarterfinals in Cincinnati for the first time, I think that my prep for the US Open has gone how I've wanted it to go.

So yeah, I'm overall happy with my decision. Not one that I wanted to have to make, but necessary.

Q. Following up on that, so many of you guys are young and presumably going to be even better in the future, but what's your take on seeing so many American men ranked where they are in the top 20 and so forth coming into this Open and the state of American tennis?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I think it's a testament to the work that we've put in here in the United States in the last 15 years in tennis. Usually don't see the fruits of your work immediately. You see a lot of guys breaking through around the same age, you know, that at whatever time they were developing, we were doing something right. That's a lot of credit to the culture that we've built here with American tennis and the USTA.

You know, having a group like Reilly, Tommy, Frances, and Taylor come through at the exact same time, being almost the same age is kind of unheard of from any country, especially with three of the four of those guys being in that top-20 group right now.

I'm just excited to be a part of it, kind of along for the ride. I had a little bit different tennis upbringing than those guys, but I think it's just proof that there's a lot of different ways here in the U.S. to make it.

Q. A little bit connected to that, I'm curious, I would imagine you want to win a Grand Slam title for Ben Shelton, but is there any motivation or inspiration behind the idea of being an American man to win a Grand Slam title? It's been a while since the country has had one. Does that enter your mindset at all?

BEN SHELTON: I wouldn't say it does enter my mindset at all. I think that the gradual improvement of the ranking of American players over the last three, four years, is proof to where we're going. I think it's inevitable that we will have a Grand Slam champion from our country. I don't know when it's going to be or who it's going to be.

Certainly I have a bunch of goals for myself, but I think that the most important is the everyday work, the small improvements, the process, that's what I focus on, and I think that that's what's important for me individually and us as a country.

Q. On an unrelated topic, I have a colleague working on a story looking at booming pickleball in the U.S. I'm curious, do you think tennis should be worried at all about the popularity of pickleball? What do you think the USTA's stance should be toward pickleball?

BEN SHELTON: No, man, I got no comment about that. (Laughter.)

Q. Just going back to the Olympics quickly, that was obviously a really tough decision for you. Do you wish tennis could find a way to make more space for the Olympics in its schedule somehow, say that players like you aren't put in a position to have to make a difficult decision like that?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it's tough when you look at the way that other sports do things, it's hard to compare because a lot of those other sports revolve around the Olympics, and that's their biggest event.

For us, I would say that playing in the Grand Slams, historically players put more emphasis on the Grand Slams than the Olympics. That's just the way that our sport is. It's such a cool event and it brings so many athletes together. It would be nice if there was more space in the calendar for the Olympics, but I'm not sure how that would happen.

You know, it's not like I'm asking them, oh, LA '28, can we have more space? I think it's also a regional thing. Playing in LA that week isn't too big of a deal, but I'm sure for the guys in Tokyo in 2021 it was even more difficult, and 2032 in Brisbane, I'm not sure how that's going to work.

Yeah, it would be a nice thing to see, but like I said, I don't know how that would happen.

Q. Can you elaborate a little bit on some of the things you liked in your game in Cincinnati. Then overall, what are some of the improvements you think you've made maybe in the last 52 weeks from last US Open to here.

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I think I've made a lot of progress, especially in my movement. I think I'm a much better mover than 52 weeks ago. I think I'm a better and more consistent, well-rounded baseline player and volleyer as well. I think I've improved in almost every aspect.

One of the other things I have improved on is my professionalism. I think I do a better job day in, day out, doing the right things. You don't always see the results right away from those efforts, but they're definitely there.

And one of the things that I loved about the way I played in Cincinnati is it was difficult conditions. Really fast court. A lot of wind, not easy for anyone to play there. There was a lot of complaints about the conditions there, and I thought that I did a great job adapting and adjusting. I think that the greats who have won many, many, many titles, namely Roger and Novak and Rafa, they can adapt. They can win Roland Garros and not play a tournament, and then go win or be in the finals of Wimbledon.

So I think adapting to different surfaces, different conditions, on the fly, is something that's really important in our sport, because we're not always using the same balls or playing on the same surfaces.

That's just one of the things that I took some confidence from, even though it's not a specific tennis thing.

Q. A year ago, obviously a big breakthrough here, wonderful two weeks for you. I'm wondering what would you say sticks out the most in your mind from last year's tournament? If you can point to one way in which that whole experience maybe informs things for you now and can help you moving forward, what would you say that was?

BEN SHELTON: I think, tough question, good question. I think that you learn a lot from these experiences how best to recover from a tough five-set match, how to get yourself to sleep after playing the night session here.

How each court plays different, whether you're playing out on Grandstand or Court 10 or on Arthur Ashe. I think there's a lot of things to think about, depending on the situation you're in. If you're someone who is unseeded and maybe you're playing most of your matches on an outside court, you have a big run, and then suddenly you play one of the big guys on Stadium, you've never been in there before.

So I think that having a little bit better idea of just how the tournaments work, the possible situations that you could be in, rain delays and different things that can happen throughout the week, and not freaking out when they happen, knowing that some of these things are going to happen, and being okay with them, and that's just our sport.

I think also the better that you do, the more you're able to put yourself in those good situations where, you know, you're playing on a court with a roof over your head and you don't have to worry about the rain delay, you know you're going to play on time, you won't have to get doubled up or play back-to-back days because you didn't finish a match.

It's just a lot of things that make this sport fun and interesting and difficult at the same time, challenging, but all the stuff that I love.

Q. First-round opponent, former champion, last Grand Slam of the career, is it somehow special? Do you think it's going to be -- I haven't checked the schedule, I don't know if it's going to be on Ashe or something like that. Do you have any special feeling about the match that obviously has different implications?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I think it definitely has some hype for a first-round match. I love playing in those big type-of-moment matches. I hate to see it's Domi's last Grand Slam, because when I was starting to get into tennis, that was one of the guys who was killing it on TV every single week.

But yeah, I think any time you play a former champion at a tournament, especially a Grand Slam, it's a special experience and a tough challenge.

He held the trophy here at the end of the two weeks, which, you know, not many people in the world can say that they have done. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity and yeah, just excited to kick it off. I think the fans will love this type of matchup, and yeah, I'm just going to soak it all in.