MUBADALA CITI DC OPEN

July 27, 2025

Ben Shelton

Quick Quotes

A. DAVIDOVICH FOKINA/B. Shelton

6-2, 7-5

Q. Ben, tough match. How did you feel out there on your performance today?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, not great. It was a tough one to deal with. I felt like I have played so well all week. My level has been really high. I have been happy with the tennis I've been producing, how I have been moving and playing.

So there's a lot of positives to take from this week, but obviously I want to be in contention for these tournaments and playing my best tennis on the weekends. I didn't give myself a chance to do that today. It was disappointing.

Q. How do you feel in terms of level? What felt off or what did Alejandro maybe do in particular to make you not feel well?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, he's always solid. He makes a lot of balls. He moves well. He's good at turning defense to offense on the moves.

So, yeah, credit to him. I thought he played a great match. Returned well. Was solid from the baseline. Played good, aggressive tennis. It caused me to press and make a lot of unforced errors.

I struggled with my serve from the start. I didn't think that I was moving great. Those two things kind of really weighed on the rest of my game.

Q. Do you see any positives from this week in general?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, 100%. The first three matches of the year are the best three matches in a row that I have put together so far this year, to be honest, especially at a tournament outside of a slam.

So to watch those matches back and take a lot of good things that I did from first round to third round, it gives me a lot of confidence. Obviously took a little bit of a step back today in the semifinals, but yeah, there's a lot of things in my game that have improved and that, you know, will propel me forward for the rest of this hard-court swing.

Q. The non-let call in the 5-5 game. Seemed like a big moment. Any thoughts on that?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it was tough. It was a clear let. Foki stopped; I stopped.

I think when it is a let that clear, even if the machine doesn't make the call, the umpire's gotta make the call.

So that was a tough one. Not gonna say that I lost because of that. I still had an overhead. But yeah, it was just unfortunate timing.