AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2026

Ben Shelton

Press Conference

B. SHELTON/U. Humbert

6-3, 7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference of Ben Shelton. First of all, congrats, Ben. A tricky opponent out there today, but you got the win in three sets. How pleased are you about your performance today?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I'm really happy. I felt like it was a great start for me.

You know, I feel like I'm finding my form pretty quickly here. A tough matchup for me, someone who hits the ball really hard, really flat, ball stays low, I don't have that much time, and a great returner.

So it was tricky. And yeah, happy I got out of it in three sets.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Well done today. The last time we were in a post-Grand Slam match press conference, it was pretty grim.

BEN SHELTON: Yeah.

Q. I was wondering, emotionally, what is it like to be back at this spot given where you were four months ago?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it's great. I mean, slams are my favorite tournaments. I'm always going to show up at slams. Always going to be excited to be there. It feels like years ago that that happened. I know it was only four months ago, but just a small bump in the road.

Yeah, like I said, just really excited to be here in Australia. Certainly one of my favorite tournaments. Yeah, I feel good about the way I'm playing.

Q. In that moment, did it feel like, Geez, I wonder when I'm going to be playing in one of these big stages again? The mind can go to dark places pretty quickly.

BEN SHELTON: For me, not really. I guess I got my, like, initial ultrasound before I went into the press room, so I kind of knew that structurally my shoulder looked good. You know, being out for a month, there's a lot worse things. I definitely have a good team, so I was confident in my ability to get back.

I would say I was more, like, worried when I was getting back on the court and kind of seeing how it felt hitting forehands. That was the part that was a little more nerve-wracking.

Q. You've been a really good starter at slams out of the gate so far. Is it something that feels automatic to you? It looked like a tricky trap match for a lot of people on paper, but you were ready and locked in. I feel like you've become a pretty reliable first-round guy at majors.

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I think that you're right. I mean, the way he was playing, too, in form, what he did last week, he was probably the toughest non-seeded player in the draw. One of a handful, for sure. I don't want to disrespect anybody, but he was definitely one of them. I know that going in. That's almost good for me, because I know that I have to bring it, and it feels like a big match right out of the gate.

So some of the traps that you can set for yourself thinking that, you know, a first-round match is going to be easy at a slam, it's just kind of out of the way.

Did I think I was going to go through this match in three sets? No, I was prepared for more. But once I got out there and saw the way that I was serving today and moving and how comfortable I felt on the court, it just gave me a lot of confidence.

Q. Ben, is there an additional challenge when you are playing left-handers? Is there something different tactically when you are playing left-handers for you?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah. It's interesting, because usually for most players, the side that they hit their forehand on, the ball bounces a little higher, backhand stays a little lower.

So with Humbert or Norrie or Mannarino, when they're hitting their backhand to my backhand, it stays super low. It feels like it's at my knees or almost on the ground, so I end up hitting a lot more backhand slices.

But then, at the same time, most balls that come to my forehand are sitting a little higher in the zone, which I really like, so it gives me the ability to tattoo some forehands and be more offensive on that side.

Then, for me, I prefer serving against lefties. I think that there's a lot more serves that come into play that are tough to deal with. I think that lefties automatically are going to struggle with my kick serve to their backhand, which is the only time that I'm ever, like, Oh, I wish I was righty, and I could hit a kick serve to a righty's backhand, and then return a serve 100%.

Especially a lot of these French guys who are lefties stand out all the way on the sideline. Humbert, Mannarino, they hit an angle halfway up the box, and you're in the side fence or the whatever, side barrier on Rod Laver, which is pretty far out.

You have to change your position, for sure. And that's a serve that, yeah, a righty can't hit. I guess they could if they did it in the deuce side, but nobody does. So I would say that was probably the one difference.

Q. There's 25 more collegiate players playing in this Grand Slam than there were 10 years ago. You're the top guy from a college from Florida. Why do you think that is?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I think there is just so many examples now of guys who have broken through. Not just, like, barely in the top 100, but in the top 10, you know?

Isner and then Norrie, that's who, like, for me, my dad was handing me sheets when I was in college of Norrie's progression, how he made it in three years after leaving college, or two years, and really established himself in the top 100.

So I was kind of looking at his results at challengers or futures and then challengers kind of coming out of college, and he did three years. Then, obviously, I'm an example people can look at. Steve Johnson. There are just so many now.

College tennis is getting a lot more talent, because it used to be, like, if you go play college tennis, like, your tennis career is dead. Now it's a stepping stone. They have the challenger pathway now.

It's like there are so many advantages to going to college. All these guys are getting paid ridiculous amounts of money. That's a different topic. So stupid.

But, yeah, I think that there's a lot more advantages to playing college tennis now, so there's a lot higher talent. You have guys who are still in college still in the main draw. Yeah, Michael Zheng and Jodar is playing right now.

Q. He left college.

BEN SHELTON: He's done. Smart.

Q. You obviously are a very offensive player. You like to be inside the baseline and come forward. I'm curious, hearing your words, the importance of court positioning and how important it is to be taking the ball early, taking time away from the opponents. How challenging is that when obviously you step in? That also can take time away from you, right? I'm curious about your perspective on that.

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I think it depends on who you are playing and what they like. If you are playing a guy who loves time and loves the ball higher in the zone, then you can step up, step into second serve return, try to take the return and come to net sometimes, cut off the angles and be really offensive with your footwork.

But, for example, in a match like today where I'm playing Ugo, who loves pace, loves the ball low in the zone, and if you just try to stand on the baseline and go toe to toe with him, he will probably crush you.

I'm going to drop back a little bit, give myself more time, make his through balls a little bit less effective and give myself the opportunity to play higher over the net.

I think that every matchup is different. Obviously, I would like to be finding my way into net. My offensive tennis and transition tennis wasn't 100% there today, but I think part of it is the way that he plays.

Q. Are there any common qualities that you think college players have?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I think college players are dogs for the most part. I don't feel like there's that many college players who come on tour and make it and are soft. I think you've got to get used to dealing with a lot when you're in college. Not everything is catered to you.

Being a professional tennis player is a very self-centered job. Everything is catered to you, you know, what your team does for you. You have all these people trying to make your life easier, and you can kind of lose sight of life, I guess.

But when you're a college player, you better keep your grades up in school and focus on school, or you're not going to be eligible. You got other teammates who you got to uplift. And the coach isn't just thinking about you, he's thinking about all ten guys.

You got to think about how you can be a better teammate, because I'll tell you, going into, like, a college team and you think everything is about you, life is not going to be fun and the guys on the team aren't going to like you.

So I think that's some of the lessons that you learn being a college player, and I think that it definitely builds character.