Shelton rejects the serve bot label: "Speed of service isn't always the answer to everything".

Adrien Guyot

le 28/12/2024 à 10h24

2 min to read

Isner Opelka Shelton

Ben Shelton is only 22 years old, but he's already ranked 21st in the world after a stint in the top 15, and still has plenty of room for improvement.

However, in the USA, the US Open 2023 semi-finalist is often compared to John Isner and Reilly Opelka, thanks to his high-performance serve, which has earned him the nickname "serve bot".

In other words, Shelton is exclusively regarded as an aces machine and/or a player capable of getting lots of free points with his serve.

In an interview with Tennis.com, the American left-hander hopes to erase this image that some tennis observers have of him.

This means being a little more efficient on his return of serve and on the number of breaks in a season, as he himself put it.

"Isner and Opelka told me that when you only take your opponent's serve 5% to 7% of the time, you're a serve bot.

That figure was less than 10% for me in 2023, but this year it's 15%.

However, I'd like to increase these figures. Many players on the circuit are superhuman. I can hit the ball at 230 km/h, but I don't necessarily send it into the zone I want.

And they manage to send it back to me. Service speed isn't always the answer. It's all about being competitive.

I don't let myself go. You can get away with a lot with service, but when plan A doesn't work, it's easy to keep banging your head against the wall.

That's what happened last year. I've had some tough times. But with age, you learn to adapt, to turn a bad day into a courageous victory," he explained.