Ben Shelton under fire: “He did the same thing he did with Jannik Sinner”

Ben Shelton missed a great opportunity in the U.S. Open final against Alexander Zverev—at least according to former tennis player and world-renowned coach Brad Gilbert. According to the American coach, Shelton should have taken a few more risks; instead, he repeated the same mistakes he usually makes against top-tier players, including Jannik Sinner himself.

“I got the impression that, in the first set, Ben served in a way that allowed Zverev to get into the rally. Once the rally started, they often ended up playing cross-court shots: Zverev’s forehand, which lacks significant speed, puts Ben’s backhand in trouble, causing him to hit many shots toward the center of the court. He should have been more aggressive, moved to hit forehands, and taken the initiative.”

“Another thing that surprised me was his approach to serving. Take Andy Roddick, for example—a great server: he might start the match by firing serves over 150 miles per hour (about 240 km/h), just to set the tone right away. Ben relies heavily on variety: he’s a player capable of varying his serve a great deal. However, I believe that to consistently beat opponents of the caliber of Sinner, Zverev, Alcaraz, or Djokovic, he needs that extra ‘spark’; he never hits 25 or 30 aces per match, which would actually help him considerably,” he said on the Big T Podcast.

“Against these opponents, I think he needs that extra something and greater effectiveness. Ben is like a baseball pitcher who varies his pitches a lot, but when I watch him play against Sinner, it seems to me like he’s always doing the same thing.”

“Jannik manages to get into the rally and has much more power from the baseline, which creates problems. With such a slow pace, Zverev—who is tall and stands far back from the baseline—manages to return too many balls. I would have liked to see a Sampras-style approach: in an important match, he could have increased his speed by 10–15 miles per hour compared to the average he maintained throughout the tournament. As it is, he’s too slow.”