The first stamp in his passport, the American Ben Shelton had it affixed in recent weeks. The 89th player in the world has never been out of the United States before. Not even for a family vacation.
There have been a few crazy stories since the start of these Australian Open, but none compare to that of 20-year-old Shelton, who will play Tuesday night, or Tuesday night into Wednesday, the quarter-finals of the first major tournament of the season.
Then, who will break into the top 50 of the ATP rankings next Monday.
The American was, in his own words, an average player as a teenager. His father Bryan, himself an ex-55th in the world, therefore did not see the point of making him travel abroad, where he would “still lose, but learn the same things [qu’aux États-Unis]».
And Shelton attended a traditional public school, which made long absences problematic.
But there you go, the average player has come a long way in the past few years. He played on the NCAA, the American college circuit, for the Florida Gaitors. He is still studying and he is taking a few distance courses during the fortnight.
“When I flew [en décembre]I had no expectations”, he conceded in a press conference, after beating his compatriot JJ Wolf, 67e after a fight that ended 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4) and 6-2 on Monday.
“I knew it would be really hard to adjust to Australia due to fatigue and jet lag. It was my first time outside the country, he continued, I knew it would be complicated.
“I think it helped me to have no expectations, no pressure to get good results. I could just be myself and play freely. I think that’s been a big part of my success.”
A victory against Ruud
Shelton had already been able to give other professionals on the circuit some clues about his talent last summer. The 6’4″ youngster had reached the third round of the Cincinnati Masters, where he was a guest of the organizers.
Photo credit: AFP
The American had beaten the world number 2, the Norwegian Casper Ruud.
A few weeks later, Shelton tasted major-tournament splendor in New York, where he lost a five-set brawl to Portugal’s Nuno Borges, then 104e.
The American played two events in Oceania before the start of the Australian fortnight: qualifying in Adelaide, where he lost in the first round, then two main draw matches in Auckland (he lost in the second round).
He wants his diploma
Along with the jet lag and some 9,500 kilometers that separated him for the first time from his native country, these last two results did not suggest that Shelton would have such a brilliant outbreak in Melbourne.
After the third round and his victory against the Australian Alexei Popyrin, 113e world, the young player said to pinch himself to make sure he was not dreaming.
But no, Shelton is not dreaming. The friendly young man is also rather down-to-earth. Because even if he beats his compatriot Tommy Paul, 35ein the quarters, and even if he were to win the trophy next Sunday, he would continue to take his finance courses at the university.
“I really want to graduate,” he pointed out.
“But this whole week is exceptional, he smiled. I feel really good.”
