After achieving his best run at Wimbledon Ben Shelton is back in action on home soil.
The 22-year-old thrives on the energy he receives from big crowds and he certainly gets that from his fellow Americans.
So far Shelton has produced most of his best tennis on hard courts and he is thrilled to be back on the concrete and build towards the US Open.
He is now at a career-high ranking of number eight and Ben Shelton will aim to go even higher over the next few weeks on home soil.
Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty ImagesBen Shelton explains why he wanted to play at the ATP Citi Open
For some players, Washington D.C.’s Citi Open is the first stop on the North American hard court swing.
Shelton is one of those players and he is competing in the nation’s capital despite the short turnaround after the Wimbledon Championships.
The American reached the quarter-finals at SW19 for the first time and just 13 days later, he was back on court. Other players have yet to commence this portion of the season due to fatigue from Wimbledon, but Shelton said the Citi Open was an event he simply had to be part of.
“I think this is one of the tournaments with the best tennis crowds. There is a lot of energy around this tournament,” Shelton told reporters in Washington D.C.
“It’s the reason that after a different slam, if it was, you know, two weeks after the slam ended and I was in the quarterfinals, I’d probably pull out and not play, but this is a tournament that I never want to miss, just because of the energy and excitement around it.
“Yeah, I’m happy to be here, looking forward to putting up good performances. I always say I want to go one step deeper than I went the year before, and that’s not always the case, but yeah, I hope to have some good results in this U.S. swing.”
Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty ImagesBen Shelton commences Citi Open campaign with a victory
Shelton began his quest for the Citi Open title against compatriot Mackenzie McDonald.
He was excellent on serve as he fired nine aces and lost just seven points on serve throughout the 75-minute contest.
Shelton looked very strong and ahead of playing Gabriel Diallo in round two, he assessed the conditions and discussed how he is approaching the road to the US Open.
“It’s really important, I think just [with] where I want my match count to be going into the US Open, to start off strong here and be playing again on Thursday and get myself a chance to have a second match,” Shelton said after his match.
“I think that the way these courts play at nighttime is fairly similar to the way the US Open plays during the day. During the day here, it’s faster. But I think that getting as much exposure as I can with this ball and this court is really important.”