By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, August 29, 2024
Photo: Mike Lawrence/US Open/USTA
NEW YORK –The demolition expert Ben Shelton is dealing damage with a softer touch at this US Open.
A year ago, Shelton served with the strength of a man trying to knock down the back wall in his inspired run to the US Open semifinals.
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The left-handed tennis master hit a pair of 149mph rackets twice in the same game during his 2023 US Open fourth-round conquest of compatriot Tommy Paul.
Soon after, Shelton said that bringing that kind of intense heat can have scalding consequences.
“I think (it was) straight adrenaline,” Shelton said. “Any other atmosphere, I don’t think I can pull it off. I think my arm might fall off.”
This year, Shelton has deliberately turned down the volume of his shouted service. The results have been profound.
Shelton has posted straight sets wins over 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem and former Wimbledon semifinalist Roberto Bautista Agut. In those six sets, Shelton has surrendered just nine points on his first serve – and saved all three break points he faced.
However, Shelton swung the radar gun at 141 mph closing the curtain on Bautista Agut.
The 13th seed, Shelton said he has found his pace to be smarter instead of trying to muscle the ball faster.
“When I say I’m a little bit more of an intelligent player, I think I’m getting through my service games this year without having to turn on the radar gun to do it,” Shelton said. “Everybody in the crowd is yelling 150, 145, 150, but I found a really good habit that was going up to 134, 135 miles an hour.”
Clock management is pain management for Shelton, who says serving in the mid-130s is kinder and gentler on his service shoulder then unleashing the screaming 148 mph rockets that electrified Arthur Ashe Stadium last year. .
The 21-year-old Shelton hopes slowing down will save his arm strength for a run in week two.
“It sounds funny, but if I can stay a little bit lower, like, 135 (mph), I don’t really have the soreness or the shoulder pain after games that I certainly had last year,” Shelton said. “I think it’s really important because it was something that was coming to me when I got to the second week of the scrimmages that my arm was pretty tired, but I’ve gotten a little bit better at hitting the spots.
“If I hit a spot at 135 or I hit it anywhere in the box at 147, it’s often the same result. So I think my serve style is a little bit different this year than last year.”
The Floridian not only bruised the back wall at Arthur Ashe Stadium, he turned the athlete into the audience: Tommy Paul stood and applauded along with the more than 24,000 other fans packed into Ashe Stadium after Shelton unleashed a pair of 149 mph rockets – service fastest of the tournament – in the fifth game of the third set of that 2023 fourth-round match.
It’s not just the sheer pace that makes Shelton’s serve so difficult to read.
The left-hander can wrap the deadly slice served wide to the ad side, hit the serve with a shoulder-high boundary or bring the volatile straight down the tee.
The combination of Shelton’s ability to hit the entire serve spectrum—combined with his familiarity with forehand tennis—can disarm even elite opponents.
“He has a super sloppy serve. He was going after the second serve really aggressively today, which wasn’t fun,” Paul said. “He didn’t pace me the whole match. You know, normal things when you play a guy who’s a server — or, I mean, he’s not just a server. He can definitely miss a lot. of balls.”
Shelton will have to change his serve — and sometimes turn the heat down to a T — in his third-round showdown against compatriot Frances Tiafoe. That rematch of a historic 2023 US Open quarterfinal – the first time two black American men have met in the US Open quarters – will send the winner to the fourth round against defending champion Novak Djokovic or Montreal champion Alexei Popyrin, who who beat Shelton 6-4. 7-6(4) en route to his biggest career title at the Canadian Open earlier this month.
Location can be more problematic than sheer pace on the tough courses of Flushing Meadows.
Hall of Famer worth mentioning Pete Sampraswho rarely served above 130 mph but is still considered one of the game’s best serves, holds the US Open era record for most aces in a tournament with 144 aces in winning his farewell US tour Open 2002.
In fact, Sampras’ 141 aces at the 1995 US Open is the second-highest assist total in Flushing Meadows history.
