It is a surface where I could do very well and achieve great success, but I haven’t done anything yet.”
Ben Shelton is ready to make his second appearance at Wimbledon this year! 2023 saw him make a surprise exit in the second round, and despite the young American loving to play on the surface, grass has not favored him. Expectations abound this year again but Serena Williams’ former coach is not too confident about Shelton’s chances at Wimbledon.
In one of the recent episodes of the Racquet’s Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, the Australian coach discussed the possibilities of defeating Jannik Sinner. Of course, the World No. 1 is the favorite to win, but in the list of names that could possibly topple him, Stubbs doesn’t think Shelton stands a chance.
She stated, “Ben Shelton – can he get through and, you know, really push Sinner? We had a lot of expectation for him last year at Wimbledon, he didn’t have the success.” The 21-year-old has himself admitted that grass was a surface that he played on late in his tennis development. But is it too late to fix his errors now?
“But again, he’s playing Bellucci, who might go through quallies and as you know, Sam, guys that come through quallies are playing really, really good tennis on grass. So no given that Ben will get through,” Stubbs continued, although most predictions state that he only has a 50-50 chance of clearing through Mattia Bellucci. While his overall record on grass is unimpressive, 2024 has not been a good leadup to the main event in London.
In Stuttgart as well as the Queen’s Club Championships, Shelton’s warm up to Wimbledon has not gone as planned. His overall grass-court record in 2024 stands at 1-3 not in his favor, especially having lost to then-World No. 289 Paul Jubb in Mallorca, so the SW19 is in danger. Despite knowing that the odds are stacked against him, the young American oozes confidence as he prepares for his first Grass Court game today.
“There are many things to learn on grass. I started playing on this surface late in my tennis development. There are many things to learn related to movement, style of play; things that I am learning day by day. It is a surface where I could do very well and achieve great success, but I haven’t done anything yet,” Shelton told press at Wimbledon.
A few days ago, the ATP Tour also captured the excitement of the upcoming grass-court season in a recent entertaining video that they posted on its X (previously Twitter) page. Top ATP players were asked the same question in this video: “Who’s going to win Wimbledon?”
The 21-year-old tennis player took the conversation with absolute confidence, “I’m gonna choose myself as a grass court ‘dark horse.’ I think I learned a few things last year that I hope will help me this year. The grass suits my game well, and I’m excited.” However, as his anticipation builds up, Shelton recently opened up about his favorite Wimbledon memory.
Ben Shelton’s first memory of watching Wimbledon
It’s not Wimbledon without Roger Federer, and while he may not play anymore, his graceful swings live in our memories, as they do Ben Shelton’s. The 21-year-old tennis player sat down with ATPTour.com before this year’s event to discuss his early memories of watching The Championships and witnessing tennis legends.
Wimbledon has always been special for Shelton, whose dad Bryan lost to Boris Becker twice in the 90s, but Roger Federer go against Novak Djokovic in the 2019 finals is one of his favorite memories of the event.
