Shelton shocked by success, sails into semis in Japan; Djokovic to open 2024 at United Cup
TOKYO: Rising tennis star Ben Shelton said on Friday that his career has moved “a lot faster than I would have thought” ater advancing to the semi-finals of the Japan Open.
The 21-year-old has quickly made a name for himself since turning professional in August last year, reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January and the semi-finals of the US Open last month.
The world number 19 beat fellow American Tommy Paul 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in Tokyo to move a step closer to his first ATP Tour title, and said he was “really happy with the way things are going”.
“I didn’t think right away that I was going to be a pro as soon as my college career was over, that I would be on the main ATP Tour this quickly,” said Shelton, who will play another American, Marcos Giron, in the semi-finals.
“Definitely things have moved a lot faster than I would have thought when I was in college.”
Shelton said he is still taking classes at the University of Florida but would have to “see if it’s something that I continue to do” or decide to leave his education until later.
He gave the Tokyo crowd another glimpse of his undoubted talent with an impressive win over Paul, the fith seed who he also beat at the US Open.
Shelton said he had to play “more within myself” to deal with the strong wind blowing around the stadium.
He was happy to continue his recent run of form ater reaching the quarter-finals of last week’s Shanghai Masters.
“Wins are tough out here on tour so to get three in a row is something that’s a prety cool feat for me, something that hasn’t come oten for me yet in my career so far,” he said.
Shelton has also become known for celebrating wins with his now-trademark “dialled-in” gesture with an imaginary telephone. He has yet to do the celebration this week in Tokyo but he said he might reconsider “if I were to win the title here”.
Semi-final opponent Giron moved on ater a 6-1, 6-4 win over Canadian number-eight seed Felix Auger-aliassime.
World number 79 Giron came through qualifying and knocked out Norwegian number-two seed Casper Ruud in the second round.*
DJOKOVIC TO SPEARHEAD SERBIA: World number one Novak Djokovic will open his 2024 season at the mixed teams United Cup in Australia, but injury-plagued Rafael Nadal was not on the Spain team announced on Friday.
Djokovic will spearhead Serbia at the tournament from December 29-January 7 in Sydney and Perth as he builds towards the defence of his Australian Open title.
Nadal was part of the Spain team in 2023 before injuring his hip at the opening Grand Slam of the year. He has been out of action since and underwent surgery in June.
Tennis Australia chief Craig Tiley said this month Nadal planned to make his return to Grand Slam tennis at the Australian Open, which follows the United Cup.
Nadal responded on social media by thanking Tiley for his “confidence”, without confirming if he would appear.
There are ATP events in Brisbane, Adelaide and Auckland in early January that Nadal could also use to prepare for the Australian Open.
Nine of the world’s top 20 men and five of the top 10 women will feature at the United Cup, with defending champions the United States among the favourites, led by Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz.
Poland, spearheaded by world number two and four-time Grand Slam winner Poland’s Iga Swiatek, were named top seeds for the 18-nation event.
Other big names to sign on include Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev, Maria Sakkari, and Caroline Garcia.