ROLEX SHANGHAI MASTERS

October 11, 2026

Ben Shelton

Mixed Zone

A. GEA/B. Shelton

7-6, 7-6

Q. One thing I noticed on the stat sheet, the sort of below first serve winning percentage at 63 percent. Was that you or did he handle your serve better than you thought he might?

BEN SHELTON: I thought he handled my serve outstanding. I thought he did a great job on return today start to finish. He put it a lot in play. He was putting 'em deep to the baseline. It was tough to attack. There was hardly any, as the match went on, points where I was getting easy free points or first balls to attack and come to the net on, so a lot of credit to him.

Q. Apart from the Davis Cup, you hadn't played any matches since US Open. Does that also make an impact on the result today?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I mean, I got outplayed today. The guy played better than me. A hundred percent, I would have liked to have come over here earlier and be prepared and have already dealt with the jet lag by the time I was playing here in the Shanghai Masters. My body wasn't ready. I wasn't physically ready to play in Tokyo. That's just the way this tour is sometimes.

Q. What are your targets for the rest of the season?

BEN SHELTON: I want to finish on a high note in Turin. Obviously I want to be prepared, playing some of my best tennis when I get there. Three tournaments left to finish the year, which has been a very up and down year, but a great year, on a high note.

Q. This was your first time playing Arthur. Were you surprised by his game style coming to the net a lot?

BEN SHELTON: No, no, I have watched some of him playing. He's a very talented player. I thought he played an outstanding, complete match today. He's got a huge forehand and big game and, yeah, I think that he'll do very well on the tour.

Q. Did you notice that the courts were noticeably faster this year?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, the courts were definitely a lot faster. Still, this ball is one of the slowest and heaviest balls, the slowest and heaviest ball that we use on tour. But they sped up the courts significantly.