Ben Shelton saw the best Wimbledon run of his career so far come to an end after being beaten by Jannik Sinner.
Shelton admitted he made mistakes against Sinner which cost him, as he suffered a closely fought straight sets defeat.
The American was not just down on himself, with Shelton explaining what was so impressive about Sinner in their Wimbledon quarterfinal match.
John McEnroe has backed Shelton to challenge for majors in the future, and now another of his compatriots in Andy Roddick has offered him some advice on how to compete with the likes of Sinner.
Photo by Marleen Fouchier/BSR Agency/Getty ImagesAndy Roddick requests Ben Shelton to make one change for next time he plays Jannik Sinner
The only players that Shelton has lost to at Grand Slams this year are Sinner (Australian Open and Wimbledon) and Carlos Alcaraz (Roland Garros).
Sinner is often compared to Novak Djokovic, and now former world number one Roddick has explained what Shelton must do to combat those types of players in the future.
Shelton is one of the best servers on the ATP Tour, but when speaking on his podcast Roddick suggested ways that he could be doing more damage with it against the likes of Sinner and Djokovic.
“Ben had a great event. He had a fantastic event,” said Roddick. “One adjustment that I would like to see against the great returners like a Sinner or a Novak if you are Ben Shelton.
“He has this lefty serve, and one he has maybe the most action on his second serve of anyone in the game. It is like a curve ball, it is crazy the movement he is able to get on it.
“A lot of the time I would have liked to have wanted to see the kick serve from the deuce side start from Sinner’s backhand and kick towards the forehand. I would have wanted my second serve crossing Sinner’s body a lot more I think if I was Ben.
“Then you mix that up with the threat of going 120mph on the second serve down to 87mph. I just think a wide serve to Sinner on second serve. If it starts on his left and he is moving left he is going to be able to track it and see it and you are not going to get that t-rex effect where he gets caught.
“Also on the ad side, if you hit that cutter, and this is really hard to do by the way! Chuckers cannot do this, this is not advice for someone at their club tournament. But on the ad side if you are going to hit a slice serve, I want it to start on Sinner’s forehand side and work its way hopefully to the backhand side.
“Because if you are moving against it and the ball is moving that way, you have to almost pull it to Shelton’s forehand. You can’t let Sinner lay that down to the backhand on the first ball and get neutral.
“Neutral is actually behind. I talked about this in my match up with Roger [Federer]. If he neutralised my serve, neutral for him is behind for me, because he is more skilful from the baseline. But those are the micro-details that are impossible to execute that you nit-pick at when you are at the level of Shelton and Sinner.”
Ben Shelton’s Head-to-Head vs Jannik Sinner
Shelton has only played Djokovic once before, losing to the 24-time Grand Slam champion in the US Open semi-finals in 2023.
However, his rivalry with Sinner has been more consistent and somewhat concerning for Shelton.
Shelton won his first ever meeting against Sinner at the 2023 Shanghai Masters, but he has lost all six of their matches since then without winning a single set.
Losing to Sinner is nothing to be ashamed of, of course, with only four players beating the world number one in the last 12 months.
Shelton will be hoping to continue his upward trajectory as he now turns his attention to his preferred hard courts in North America.
The 22-year-old is next scheduled to compete at the ATP 500 tournament in Washington D.C., which will get underway on Monday, July 21.