Ben Shelton, a rising American star, recently reflected on the beginning of his tennis career and how he first became interested in the game.
The American is preparing for his first-round match at the 2023 Japan Open while playing in the ongoing Asian tennis tour. He will be coming to Tokyo after a strong quarterfinal showing at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
Shelton took some time to talk about how his tennis career got started and how he first became interested in the game. He emphasized that despite not having a particular love for tennis and finding delight in other sports, he eventually returned to the game.
Shelton expressed his thoughts in a recent interview and said: “I think my first memory is being a really young kid and my parents started me out with a tennis racket and a balloon to practice tennis for the first time. I didn’t love tennis at the start and I didn’t want to be a part of it, I just wanted to play other sports. But I got back to it. I think the moment I realized that I wanted to be a tennis player was probably the first professional match I won in Illinois.”
He added: “Being able to do five sets, last five sets, you know I’ve never done before in my career and I kinda proved to myself that I was fit enough to compete in Grand Slams and mentally tough enough to compete in front of big crowds. I think that’s something that helped me gain a lot of confidence this year.”
Blink and you’ll miss it 💨💨💨
Happy birthday to @BenShelton!
pic.twitter.com/TtRxzJvwJB— US Open Tennis (@usopen) October 9, 2023
Ben Shelton in 2023
Currently ranked no.19 (career-high), Shelton played his last match on the 12th of October when he capitulated to world no.23 Sebastian Korda 6-7(10) 6-2 7-6(6) in the quarter in Shanghai (draw).
This season the American has achieved a 23-24 record. Ben Shelton’s best result of the current year was reaching the semifinal in the Cagliari Challenger and at the U.S. Open.
He is also scheduled to play in Vienna (Erste Bank Open) on the 23rd of October and Paris (Rolex Paris Masters) on the 30th of October.
