{"id":145493,"date":"2025-08-14T16:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T16:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/145493\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T16:16:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T16:16:17","slug":"ben-shelton-pinpoints-the-area-of-tennis-where-he-wants-to-become-one-of-the-best-players-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/145493\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Shelton pinpoints the area of tennis where he wants to become ‘one of the best players in the world’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ben Shelton has continued his superb run on the ATP Tour by reaching the last 16 of the Cincinnati Open.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shelton opted out of the Cincinnati Open doubles<\/a>, but is progressing in the singles after winning his first two matches.<\/p>\n

Currently in a career-high ranking of six, Shelton<\/a> has now beaten Camilo Ugo Carabelli and Roberto Bautista Agut at the ATP<\/a> Masters 1000 tournament.<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Open<\/a> fifth seed now takes on 22nd seed Jiri Lehecka for a spot in the quarterfinals against Alexander Zverev.<\/p>\n

The American is chasing his second title of the season, with Shelton winning the Canadian Open<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\"BenPhoto by Julian Avram\/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesThe area in which Ben Shelton wants to become \u2018one of the best in the world\u2019<\/p>\n

He was on hand to analyse his latest display for Tennis Channel, particularly what he\u2019s looking for on his return.<\/p>\n

Shelton said: \u201cFor me it\u2019s putting the ball in the court, that\u2019s first and foremost. But putting the ball into a position where I feel like I can get the neutral or ahead.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Ben Shelton hailed for leading Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic in one key area, \u2018it\u2019s remarkable\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think earlier in the year I put more emphasis on just putting it in the court and now I am starting to find my returning style, where I can flip points, especially first serve return points.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy second serve return has been good for a while now. I feel more comfortable there. But it\u2019s an ongoing process, it\u2019s something I am working on every day, even if it\u2019s after a match I just have to continue to get better.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is one of the areas of the game where I want to be one of the best in the world and it\u2019s a process for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Shelton reveals the realisation he\u2019s made about preparation that has helped him a lot<\/p>\n

Shelton needed one hour and 49 minutes to get past Bautista Agut in Cincinnati, who he defeated 7-6(7-3), 6-3.<\/p>\n

And return was certainly a key area of the service game, with the Spaniard winning just four points from 14 on his second serve.<\/p>\n\nBen Shelton<\/strong><\/td>\n\nRoberto Bautista Agut<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n292<\/td>\nServe rating<\/strong><\/td>\n266<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n15<\/td>\nAces<\/strong><\/td>\n5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2<\/td>\nDouble faults<\/strong><\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n41\/78 (53%)<\/td>\nFirst serve<\/strong><\/td>\n46\/60 (77%)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n30\/41 (73%)<\/td>\n1st serve points won<\/strong><\/td>\n36\/46 (78%)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n22\/37 (59%)<\/td>\n2nd serve points won<\/strong><\/td>\n4\/14 (29%)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n8\/8 (100%)<\/td>\nBreak points saved<\/strong><\/td>\n0\/2 (0%)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n10<\/td>\nService games played<\/strong><\/td>\n11<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Ben Shelton vs Roberto Bautista Agut serving stats (ATP Tour stats<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Shelton also discussed how his \u2018low day\u2019 has improved over the last 12 months, saying: \u201cI think for me it\u2019s preparation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I feel good physically and I have my legs, my low day or my floor rises a lot. Me being able to use my athleticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo for me it\u2019s prep, what I do the day before and the night before. How I get ready for a match the day of.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found that warming up further away from the match, gives me more time to cool down and chill out before I go on court is something that helps me a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there is a lot of little things, scientific things that have gone into my ability to feel like I am at 100% physically every time I step on that court.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American now faces a reunion with Czech ace Lehecka, a player he has met just once before on the ATP Tour.<\/p>\n

But Shelton won that meeting, defeating Lehecka 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals in Stuttgart earlier this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Shelton has continued his superb run on the ATP Tour by reaching the last 16 of the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":145494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1479,21485,67759,62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-145493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-ben-shelton","10":"tag-cincinnati-open","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115028019687139028","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}