Ben Shelton is one of two American players still remaining in the men’s singles draw at Wimbledon.
Shelton, who is the current world number 10, has reached the second week of Wimbledon for a second year in a row.
The American progressed to this stage of the tournament after beating lucky loser Marton Fucsovics.
Shelton believes he has improved his grass court game this year, and is now just one win away from achieving his best ever result at Wimbledon.
Photo by Peter van den Berg/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty ImagesBen Shelton names the best tennis minds on the ATP Tour
After beating Fucsovics, 6-3 7-6(4) 6-2, Shelton fielded questions from the media in his post-match press conference.
While a lot of the focus was on himself and his own performance, Shelton was also asked about the players who he thinks have the best tennis minds on the ATP Tour.
In his response, Shelton named his compatriots Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, as well as the now retired Roger Federer.
“Tough question… there’s a lot,” said Shelton. “Everyone is sharp in their own way, like you know, Taylor Fritz has a great tennis mind, and he knows what he has to do to win matches and he’s very objective and he knows why he lost matches as soon as he walks off the court.
“You can see him talking through it during the match with his box. He’s not getting coached as much during the match. He’s just talking through and making adjustments and telling them what’s going on. I think he has a great tennis mind.
“I think Frances Tiafoe has a great tennis mind, and him in full flight, the decisions that he’s making on the fly, his processing is so quick, but how he sees the game is really impressive. And he may fool you by, you know, the laughing and joking around all the time, but he’s a really sharp tennis mind, so I know maybe that sounds biased because those are two Americans.
“If I had to put one other guy in there, uh I mean, I’ve talked to Roger a few times, you know, just about the game, and what kind of stuck out to me is how simple he put it, how simple he thought about things.
“He’s watching tennis all the time. You know, no matter the level. So one, the commitment to, you know, just the game and love for the game and seeing that all the time, and then the way that he was able to like simplify the game, dumb it down, not make it more complicated than it has to be. I thought was really impressive.”
Ben Shelton vs Lorenzo Sonego Head-to-head
Shelton has continued his impressive Grand Slam record and will look to use his own strong mentality to help reach his first Wimbledon quarter-final.
Standing in his way of doing that is Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who Shelton will now have played at all three majors this year.
The American has won both of their meetings at Grand Slams already this year, but this will be their first ever encounter on grass.
Shelton wanted to play on Centre Court for the first time at Wimbledon this year, but his match against Sonego has been scheduled on Court No.1.
The winner of the match between Shelton and Sonego will reach their first Wimbledon quarter-final, where they will play either Jannik Sinner or Grigor Dimitrov.