ROLAND GARROS

May 23, 2025

Ben Shelton

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back, Ben. How are you feeling coming in?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I feel great. Happy to be back here. Roland Garros, slams are my favorite tournaments of the year. Every time you get to play one, it's special.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Have you been adapting yourself on clay to be more effective compared to hard or grass?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I think adapting all parts of my game to be more effective. I think adapting is really important. It's not just on every clay surface is going to be the same. Every week on clay is different, different conditions, different court. Yeah, it's kind of the surface that you have to make the most adaptations and adjustments.

Q. Last year you were talking to some of the other American guys about what is a serve bot, what qualifies for that. What do you think of that kind of term, whether it's maybe disrespectful, if it was something you wanted to avoid?

BEN SHELTON: No, I mean, I don't think it's disrespectful. I think it is what it is. It's funny. I think the guys who are serve bots kind of embrace it. I don't view myself as a serve bot honestly. I think there's certain matches where I do do serve bot things.

Yeah, I think it's kind of a funny joke that we made, players who are viewed at serve bots, made about themselves.

Q. Do you have a threshold in your mind of what makes a player one? Is it percentage of return games or something?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, that's what John and Reilly always say, who both consider themselves serve bots. It was like if your break percentage is under 5% or something like that, you're considered a bot, somewhere around there. I don't remember exactly. We were talking about it last summer.

I'd say whatever they say is accurate.

Q. You made a semifinal in Australia early in the year. Do you have specific goals, specific expectations for Roland Garros?

BEN SHELTON: Not specific goals or expectations. I always want to do better than I did the year before in a tournament. For me, I'm trying to go further here than I did last year.

This is a tournament that I love playing. I think from year one to year two I improved a lot, I got a lot better, feel a lot more comfortable in year three.

Yeah, I'm really excited to hopefully go deep. The slams is where I play my best tennis.

Q. You're young, maybe you are concerned with the environmental problems. Do you think the players are doing enough to reduce their footprints in the year? What do you do?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, every year I offset my carbon emissions. I don't know how many players do that. They have a program through the ATP that you can do that. That's something that I've been a part of the two years that I've been on tour.

I think it's something that's pretty easy to do. Yeah, for the most part it's difficult being a professional tennis player. You take a lot of flights, you do a lot of traveling. I guess you would say a big footprint.

But yeah, I'm not the most well-versed in the environment, all the impacts of emissions and everything like that. When the opportunity presents itself, I try to do my part.

Q. Last year heading into the clay season, even before that, you did a lot of work with Gabe in terms of trying to improve your movement. I know he's not with you anymore. Did you do similar work this year? How has that part of your game progressed?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, always do the similar work in my kind of clay block before I come over to Europe. I think it's huge. No matter the surface, whoever's moving the best is going to be playing the best. I think that's one of the things for me that's improved a lot, is my movement on the surface.

There's still things that I need to get better. I'm not a complete clay court player yet, I'm not a finished product on the clay. There's still things we talk about that need to improve for me to be playing at the top and giving myself opportunities to win tournaments.

Even though I am making some deep runs in clay court events now, I have a title on clay, there's just a lot of things that I'm continually trying to improve and work on.

Q. Is there a new Gabe, someone else whose focus is that?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, no, not yet. Not right now. I think it's maybe something that I'll add back in at some point. I think that's kind of like an area that is kind of strength and conditioning but also kind of tennis. Your tennis coach should be able to put you through similar drills and movements.

Yeah, so that's kind of just been something that we've done you could say by ourselves. Once you learn how to do things or what works for you, it's pretty easy to replicate it.

Q. When you're in this part of the season, are you looking ahead to getting on grass, or do you not think about what's next?

BEN SHELTON: No, try to stay in the moment. I think about every time I'm at the slam, or a slam, it's my best opportunity, one of my four favorite tournaments to play, my favorite format. It's kind of like the moments that I live for. I love playing at the biggest events. Love playing at the slams. They always have the best crowds, more energetic crowds, the best atmosphere.

For me, I'm not looking forward at all. You just kind of have to put the mindset no matter what tournament it is, being a Grand Slam, no matter how I rank the four, they're still the four biggest and most important tournaments in the world.

I think this is a tournament that Americans haven't had huge success in. 26 years since a finalist or something like that. I think this is a really cool opportunity for Americans. You do something big in an event like this, it really means something.

This is a challenge. Not my natural surface that I grew up playing on, but a surface I want to become great on. Certainly a tournament that I want to do really well and have deep runs. If it's not this year, the following years. Yeah, make something special happen.

Q. Do you remember the first time you even hit or practiced on red clay?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I mean, at the USTA in Orlando, they have red clay. We call it Italian red clay, I don't know. But over here the first time playing on red clay was Estoril in 2023. Ended up getting food poisoning there. Great first memories.

I would say that was probably the first time over here being in the environment playing on the clay and having the feel of European red clay.

Q. First time hitting on the grass?

BEN SHELTON: First time on grass was at - what do they call that practice site at Wimbledon - in 2023. Where they play quallies?

Q. Roehampton.

BEN SHELTON: 2023 before Queen's. That was my first time.

Q. Never in the States?

BEN SHELTON: No. I live in Florida. Grass is just dirt if you're trying to cut it that short.

Q. You had an odd doubles match in Monaco with afterwards comments. Did you ever talk about that, the injury withdrawal afterwards? Seemed like a strange episode.

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it was a strange episode, for sure. I thought it was a normal tennis play. I never play with malice or ill intentions. In doubles, the same match I got hit in the chest, too, popped in the chest.

I think it's a normal part of doubles. That's what all the doubles players after the fact have come up to me and said in the locker room. You hit a normal shot on a normal play, I'm not really sure what the issue was.

I haven't really thought about it. It's weeks now. Yeah, it was interesting.

Q. Did you talk to him at all afterwards?

BEN SHELTON: No.

Q. I always enjoy your interactions with your box, your dad. Seems like your dad is more technical than most people giving you advice. What do you want from your box in the middle of a match?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it depends. I want energy, for sure. If things are going great, energy is good. Corrections are good.

It's interesting because not many coaches out here have been with their players as long as my dad's been with me. He's been really the only coach that I've ever, like, worked with and has had as my coach. He's probably watched every match I've played for the last six years, every match that is videoed that I've ever played.

Yeah, I can take a lot from him because I know he understands me and my game very well. Yeah, I think it just depends on where I'm at energy-wise, where my game's at.

I think my box does a really good job of kind of reading that, getting a gauge of where I'm at, helping me the best way they can.

Q. (No microphone.)

BEN SHELTON: Strategic?

Q. Yes.

BEN SHELTON: I guess technical and strategic. It just depends. Sometimes I don't need it. Sometimes if things are going wrong or I'm getting beat in a certain pattern that I need to get out of or I'm missing a certain shot the same type of way and I need to make a small adjustment, whether it's footwork or weight transfer, body control, whatever it may be, the toss on my serve, it's something that I'm not afraid to hear and make a small correction.

But time and place, obviously.