July 25, 2025
Washington D.C.
Press Conference
B. SHELTON/F. Tiafoe
7-6, 6-4
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Ben, Frances said you did a really good job taking advantage of the big moments tonight, obviously serving for the set in the first there. What do you feel was the difference between you guys in a pretty tight match, even though it was two sets?
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I think obviously this court does a lot for my serve. The ability to get the ball out of the zone is huge, especially against a guy like Foe who is so good in the pocket. So my ability for my flat serves not only to be coming in at 145 but also rising above his shoulders is huge.
Second serve, too. He's one of the best in the world when he's locked in, attacking second serves and making you feel like you're on the back foot, taking a second serve and coming to the net. My winning percentage on second serve was probably the highest that it's ever been against him.
My aggressive brand of serving, and then I was willing to take chances on the return of serve, and I executed a lot. So I think that combination was kind of tough to deal with in these conditions.
Q. Seemed like you have been rally striping the backhand this week, and especially tonight. How much improvement have you seen in that shot, and how important is that shot moving forward?
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I think I haven't been as focused on striping the backhand or hitting winners with it. That was just a by-product getting into a really good rhythm today. And mixing the slice and the topspin and not making too many unforced errors, hitting over the ball and having a consistent ball shape gave me the confidence towards the end of the match to kind of up it a level, go a level up on the backhand.
For me, what I have been focusing on is the open-stance backhand and defending out of the backhand corner with a two-hander, not with a slice, and that's where a guy like Foe eats me alive usually, hooking the ball off the court to my backhand, knowing that I'm going to the slice, and then he can get in faster than anyone, knock off a volley.
The defensive backhand is what's been my main focus and goal for improvement. Offensive one has just been a by-product of that.
Q. You just said that Frances is one of the best in the world when he's locked in. Did you feel he wasn't locked in tonight?
BEN SHELTON: No, no. I definitely think that he's locked in. He's one of those guys who can turn the switch on whenever he wants it, and you guys are seeing more and more weeks every year that he's playing his brand of tennis, really good tennis.
That's scary for the rest of the field. He'll even say it himself. He used to be a guy who'd show up in the American hard-court swing and a few other times during the year and those would be his big moments.
The guy's making quarterfinals at Roland Garros now, and people are in trouble.
Q. What was your game plan tonight versus at the US Open the last time that you played Frances? Was it different? Did you approach it differently this match versus the match that you played at the US Open last summer?
BEN SHELTON: Yeah. Just a lot of things are different because of the tools that I have, especially the way that I'm serving and how confidently I'm serving. The way I'm constructing my service game is different, but it's more offensive mentality.
If you set the tone early and beat the guy to the net, that's kind of been the theme. The first time we played in the US Open and when we played in Houston, I was at the net a billion times, you know, coming in behind second serves, serving and volleying. That was kind of how I set the tone.
The second time we played at the US Open, it was the opposite. The fourth and fifth set he was coming in every single point and knocking off volleys and hitting sick volleys, putaways.
That's kind of been how our matches have gone. Whoever is more brave in executing on those, not necessarily going for broke from the baseline but just taking an opportunity any time there is a short ball or a second serve or serve and volley on a wide serve.
I think it's an important part of the type of tennis that we want to play, especially in the places we want to play it. Here, Cincinnati, really fast. Obviously Foe is a joke there. Any fast hard court he's very, very tough to play.
Q. I couldn't quite see what was going on with the trainer. Was it like a blister or something else?
BEN SHELTON: No, just had, like, a hangnail. I have been taping it up. The tape just, like, rolls up sometimes, so trying to find a glue that's strong enough so it doesn't roll off. Just retape it.
Q. Do you feel with your return game that maybe you're in a different place now than, I don't know, six months ago, a year ago, in terms of you get broken there, 6-5 in the first, he's now serving for the set, but the set's not over, you're giving yourself a chance to break back there?
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I mean, for me, I usually play my best return game the game after I get broken. Like that's when I dial it in, put it all together, I'm a little bit pissed off and I figure out how to get that break back.
Obviously if you just got the break, you're trying to hold on to something, play a little bit tentative. I think I'm pretty good at taking that opportunity and running with it.
For me, just the way I feel on my return, how often I'm putting the return on the court, how aggressive, how much I'm accessing the back part of the court, getting depth, I feel like I had a lot of options tonight. I felt like I gave myself a lot of break chances.
I could have broken more than I did. I thought he was really clutch a lot of times on the breakpoint, and I wasn't quite as aggressive as I needed to be and step up in those big moments, which I was looking to do on that last point where I did get the break and he double-faulted.
I think that was what I needed to do to actually break. But I was giving myself the chances over and over again.
Q. We don't know who you play next because they're still on court, but if you play Taylor Fritz or even if you don't play him, I'm curious how much of a goal it is for you to catch him for the top American spot? Because you guys are pretty close in the race now. Just wondering how much that's a goal, because he's been atop the American ladder for many years in a row now.
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I mean, I think I got there last year as the top American. I was there for like five or six minutes (smiling).
Q. How were those minutes for you?
BEN SHELTON: Just like when you guys ask me how I felt in the top 10, I feel exactly the same, especially being in the middle of the year. Like, I think end of year is goals for me. I can look at my full body of work and see where I'm at. The stuff in the middle, the back-and-forth, it's always going to be there. Never really looking points coming off or anything like that. That's a slippery slope.
Yeah, obviously I pay attention to the race. I know where I want to be at the end of the year. But in terms of, you know, if I'm looking to beat Taylor, that spot right there, I can't say that that's something that I'm thinking about every day.
I just want to be in contention for tournaments, want to play my best tennis on the weekends, so, you know, tomorrow and Sunday for sure if I get there.
Yeah, I want to be in contention for big titles. That's kind of where I'm at, giving myself a chance to be in those big tournaments. Hopefully be in Turin at the end of the year and obviously the Grand Slams. Just stacking myself up against the best players in the world.
The more opportunities you have to play guys in the top 10, play matches against like Foe, Fritz, Sinner and Alcaraz, everyone in the top 10, those experiences are really valuable.
Q. Your main short-term goal for this year would be making the top 8, making it to Turin?
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, one of them.
Q. You were talking about how you thought in the game in the second set, 3-3, Frances clutched up and saved some of those breakpoints. What was the key to not getting frustrated in that moment? And what was the ultimate sense of relief once you were finally able to get that break in that moment?
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I just continued playing. You know, I got some second-serve looks on his game points, which I played freely and aggressive and was able to capitalize.
And then, you know, I played the deuce points well, but I was just trying to stay there, stay steady. Obviously he's feeling the pressure. His back's against the wall, and I know how well I'm returning and playing in that moment.
So you know how much pressure you're putting on a guy when they have to save, you know, five or six breakpoints and you're making every return, and they've got to come up with the goods over and over, because I feel the same thing against him a lot.
You know, the hand skills he has, the way he's able to take my return off the hop on the baseline, 145-mile-an-hour serve, put it at my feet, is pretty silly, and I think that the way that I was returning tonight probably put similar-type pressure.
I kind of took confidence in that and knew that if it wasn't that game, the way I was returning, I was going to give myself more looks later in the set and have chances to break, and the way I was serving it was going to be tough to break me.
Q. When you're preparing for a big server, just thinking ahead if you face Taylor tomorrow, how do you guys replicate that in practice on tour? Do you have a hitting partner or coach, rocket serves? You can't mimic exactly what Taylor does. How do you guys on tour get ready to play the giant servers?
BEN SHELTON: You just move them up. So instead of serving on the baseline, you serve halfway between the baseline and the service line.
My dad still has a pretty good arm when he does have to serve to me, but one of my old college teammates is traveling with me and hitting with me, warming me up. He's got a pretty good arm too. If you put him halfway from the service line or the baseline, it feels like a 135, 140 coming at you. That's kind of how I prepared for Diallo. And yeah, if I were to play Fritz, it's the same.
No matter if I'm playing a big server or small server, I'm going to have my guy serve from halfway up or a quarter way up, whatever you want to call it, just so it's a little bit easier to hit spots and take out the net errors.
I don't know. I felt like that's the best way to try to replicate the serving that you see on tour.
Q. (Off mic.)
BEN SHELTON: That midpoint, it still feels like 120, 125. He goes no warmup. Put some bands or something, bro. My shoulder feels cold and he just comes out there completely ice cold, cold pizza right out of the fridge, and starts hitting it.
Every once in a while, I feel something in my shoulder. I'm, like, Bro, you're trying to serve 130. You didn't even warm up at all.
He still has a fat kicker, though, great kick serve. But yeah, he's still got it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports


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