One year on, Shelton has won over the tifosi: "You feel like you're in a stadium playing for your country".
In 2023, Shelton, disrupted by a largely hostile stadium, was beaten in the second round in Rome. This year, he won his match with the support of the Roman tifosi. Up against Pavel Kotov (63rd), the world No.14 turned around a match he'd started badly to win in over 2h30 (4-6, 6-3, 6-4).
Buoyed by an enthusiastic Italian crowd, Shelton seems to have won over spectators who gave him absolutely no support last year, when he lost to Alexander Bublik.
Asked about the fervor of the Roman crowd, the American paid tribute to the tifosi, who make matches special: "I love the energy I had. It was like a soccer match, honestly, they really support tennis. They love tennis. You feel like you're in a stadium playing for your country or something. Most of my fans in the crowd today were Italian, but yeah, I felt like I had a lot of support. [...] You know, I played against Bublik here. Last year, I was at the other end, the crowd was booing me and chanting for him, and I was at the opposite end of the booing this year, in this match. It was great."
Rome 
