THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 5, 2025

Ben Shelton

Press Conference

B. SHELTON/M. Fucsovics

6-3, 7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. When you get so pumped up out there, how do you bring yourself down? Does it happen automatically as soon as you get off the court or does it take hours? What happens now after you have a win like that and you have 15,000 people yelling for you?

BEN SHELTON: I don't know. I guess it's business as usual. I get on the bike for 10 minutes, I do some stretching. My physio. I go shower. Come talk to you guys. Go home and eat. By that time I'm a little bit more settled and getting closer to getting ready to go to sleep.

But yeah, it's never easy playing later matches. Obviously it's never too late here. But at other slams, it can be a lot difficult, you're playing till 2 a.m.

Q. A slightly different path you've taken to get to this point this year than last year. How big a deal is that to have only played 9 sets instead of 15? Does that influence how you shape up for week two?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it's huge, not just physically, but mentally, as well. The mental stress is a lot lower. The elation is so high after winning a five-set match because it feels so big, or you get to a 10-point tiebreaker, there's so much tension, so much nerves. Obviously any win at a slam is a big win. You can be slightly more mellow about it. I'm not a very mellow person. When it's a three-set win, that's a bit more decisive.

So yeah, I think that being in the second week of slams, the less sets you have on your body is a huge, huge thing.

Q. You mentioned on court some of the folks with you, including your sister, who I guess had to skip work. Does that make a difference, having a comfort level when you're not in the grind of it, seeing the friendly faces when you look in the stands?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it's huge, not just being on the court, but we're staying in a house. To have friends and family, people to hang out with, people my age, it's nice. We've really enjoyed it. Obviously really close to my sister. So all of us have kind of, you know, been having fun this week, enjoying the off days. The match days the same.

Yeah, it's been great. It's important to me. The tennis season's long. The times where you can get people together to come travel with you or be at a tournament, especially if it's a big tournament, it's a lot of fun. I know that me and my whole family, everybody enjoys it.

Q. I wanted to ask about your backhand slice. Here it's really effective. What is the origin of that shot? When you were younger, did you use it a lot or is that something that's developed over time?

BEN SHELTON: When I was young, I used it a lot because my backhand was terrible, so... That was kind of my way to get out of hitting backhands. Running around and hit the forehand, slice the backhand.

For me I'm learning to use it as an offensive shot, play it short sometimes, bring guys forward. Especially on this surface, it's tough to move forward fast.

It's a shot that can kind of change the rhythm. A lot of guys when you're hitting topspin balls, no matter how quality, it can come back with interest. Guys play really well off of hard topspin shots. My backhand is a little bit flatter, stays low in the zone. If a guy is hitting that really, really well, try to mix it up, move it around the court.

I've stopped using it as much when I'm on the move defensively just because guys can kind of come to net and pick that ball off, easy volley plays. I've worked a lot on my open-stance backhand, being able to stretch how far I can get out there and still hit the ball with two hands. That's kind of been a really important shot for me to steal some points where guys are in control and kind of flip it.

Q. What does that look like and how much is that about technique, when you're in the corners?

BEN SHELTON: It's just reps. You have to have a million of them so you feel confident at that point. It's athletic ability. It's footwork. Being able to move through the shot. Execution in the match just comes with practice.

For me, I'm getting more and more comfortable. Sometimes I revert back to going and hitting that slice on the move on balls that I could have got with two hands, and it cost me.

It's something I continuously work on, whether it's feeding drills, live-ball drills in practice before the tournament, or training blocks. It's just a point of emphasis.

Q. How is the feeling different now to be at this stage of a major than it was the first time in terms of sense of belonging and kind of making this your territory?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I guess it's becoming more normal for me at the majors. When I get to the big tournaments, I'm more confident about getting in the second week and having deep runs because I've done it a lot. It is the tournaments that I play the best in, and the format that I enjoy the most.

But it's good to be able to get to this point. Like you were saying, go about my business a little bit more decisively. I'm getting into the fourth round, but not feeling like I arrived somewhere. It's just business as usual, on to the next, trying to get to the next round after that. I think it's huge.

The more that you just increase that capacity for work and being able to sustain the level that you're playing, your fitness level, for seven matches at a Grand Slam, that's the ultimate goal.

So that's kind of what I'm working towards and trying to get to those big moments deep in slams and play my best tennis in those moments.

Q. What sense of satisfaction do you take from that consistency in getting to this stage over several majors?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, for me, I don't overlook that accomplishment. I know that it's a difficult task just to play three-out-of-five sets, mentally and physically.

To have a lot of deep runs, I think it is pretty cool. For me it's going to be also how can I do that at the Masters 1000s as well, the smaller tournaments, the 500s, the 250s that I play the other weeks of the year that are a shorter format that I haven't had as much success in. How do I replicate what I'm doing here there?

That's another big goal for me, aside from continuing to do what I've been doing at the majors, is to do it at those other tournaments, as well.

Q. You're one of the few left-handed players here. What is your experience with that when you were younger? Do you think it's an advantage?

BEN SHELTON: I feel like there's a lot of lefties on tour now. Obviously a lot more righties. I feel like it's growing and growing, the number of lefties. Learner, Bolt, Tabilo. I think it is becoming more normal to see a lot of lefties in the draw.

It is more rare than being a right-handed player. There is certain advantages to making the ball spin or come in a different way than the righties do.

I think that there's certain shots that I wish I was a righty on, and certain shots I'm very happy to be a lefty. I think if you're a lefty, you have to have a lot quicker hands on your forehand, especially low in the zone, because guys are just ripping backhands cross, especially on low-bouncing surfaces. It's the same vice versa with them, righties have to deal with your backhand cross going flat and through the court.

Sometimes I wish I was able to hit the kick serve out wide in the ad to righties' backhands because I feel like as big as my kick is, if it was up to a backhand, when I play a lefty, it's kind of a cheat code serve for me.

There's a lot of advantages for sure just because people don't see your stuff all the time. It kind of evens out in terms of strategy, tactics.

Q. You're known for your power game, but you also have a great knowledge of the game. Over the years when you've talked to guys, who are the two or three sharpest, most mentally aware, knowledgeable about this game?

BEN SHELTON: Tough question. There's a lot. Everyone is sharp in their own way. Like, Taylor Fritz has a great tennis mind. He knows what he has to do to win matches. He's very objective. He knows why he lost matches as soon as he walks off the court. You can see him talking through it during the match with his box. He's not getting coached as much during the match. He's just talking through and making adjustments and telling them what's going on. I think he has a great tennis mind.

I think Frances Tiafoe has a great tennis mind. Him in full flight, the decisions that he's making on the fly, his processing is so quick. But how he sees the game is really impressive. He may fool you by the laughing and joking around all the time, but he's a really sharp tennis mind.

Maybe that sounds biased because those are two Americans. If I had to put one other guy in there? I mean, I've talked to Roger a few times just about the game. What kind of stuck out to me is how simple he put it, how simple he thought about things. He's watching tennis all the time, no matter the level.

One, the commitment to just the game and love for the game, seeing that all the time. Then the way that he was able to, like, simplify the game, dumb it down, not make it more complicated than it has to be, I thought was really impressive.

Q. Your strength, comparing to your opponent. When you're playing well and serving well, there's not a lot your opponents can do. How do you get the balance between strengthening that strength and being aware of your opponent's weakness? Has that changed over the years, particularly for slams?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, especially at the slams it's a long match. You're out there for a long time. You have to be able to make adjustments. The other guy's going to make adjustments. You have to get to a point where you can adjust on the fly if the other guy starts doing something well.

If you don't have a base game that you feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of what the other guy is doing well, you're going to struggle when they switch things up. Suddenly that's not working anymore.

I think it's important to know your game and stick with your game, know the things that work for you in crunch time, not try to change something up when you do get to that break point or you are serving for the set.

We talk about bread and butter a lot, having your bread-and-butter plays. I guess that helps when you have a serve that sometimes is untouchable.

But yeah, I think there's kind of a relationship, there's ebbs and flows in the match. You have to be able to balance between playing your game, knowing what you're good at, and trying to expose some of the things that the other guy's struggling with on that day.