Marie Mahé, Media365, published on Friday January 24, 2025 at 5:40 p.m.
This Friday, Ben Shelton, after his defeat in the semi-finals of the Australian Open against Jannik Sinner, nevertheless retained some positives.
Ben Shelton will still have to wait before playing his very first final in a Grand Slam tournament. The American, now only 22 years old, played his second semi-final this Friday in one of these prestigious tournaments, after that of the 2023 edition of the US Open. If, at the time, it was the Serbian Novak Djokovic who prevented him from going further, this time, the American, 20th player in the world and seeded n°21, fell against the Italian Jannik Sinner, title holderworld number one and seeded n°1, in three sets (7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2) and 2h37 of play. At the end of this meeting, the American went through the traditional post-match press conference. Ben Shelton wanted to retain only the positives from his fortnight spent with Melbourne, in comments reported by theAFP : “These two weeks have been positive, without a doubt. I can't wait to move on to the rest of the season. There are three Grand Slams left. (…) I just want to get better, be able to get on the court and to feel like a complete player, without limits. I handle big matches and big moments well.”
-Shelton: “I thought I played well from the baseline”
The young player also looked back on her semi-final of the day: “I found that I played well from the baseline, my volleys were quite good, I returned well… I broke twice in the first set and I put myself in position to break early in the second and third sets.” Shelton was broken twice in the first set, while also missing two set points : “This is the point on which I must improve. Obviously, when you face the world No. 1, your windows of opportunity are always narrow. Sometimes, you miss these windows, your opponent raises his level of play, starts to return more first serves and the opportunities to break no longer present themselves as often.”
