QUICK PIVOT FOR TORONTO TITLIST SHELTON

FIRST-TIME MASTERS 1000 CHAMP: ‘NO CRAZY CELEBRATIONS’

By Richard Osborn

Not 24 hours after capturing the biggest title of his young career, the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, Ben Shelton is on the practice courts of the revamped Lindner Family Tennis Center, his father/coach, Bryan, interjecting advice from a familiar spot behind the baseline.

The first-time ATP Masters 1000 champ didn’t have much time to celebrate his achievement north of the border. There was a plane to catch, after all; another tournament to play, another goal ahead.

“I’m trying to get used to the heat again,” said Shelton, amidst temperatures soaring into the high 80s. “It wasn’t that hot up in Toronto. I’ll try to reacclimatize. It was a great week for me. I had a lot of fun up there. But this is one of my favorite tournaments here in Cincinnati, one that I always want to do really well at. I had my first breakout win here. My focus has shifted pretty quick.”

It was here in 2022 that the former NCAA singles titlist notched his first Top-5 victory, a 6-3, 6-3 second-round upset of Norway’s Casper Ruud. Three years later, he’s on the verge of the Top 5 himself, his run in Canada having launched him to a career-high No. 6. The lefthander joined his countryman and 4th-ranked Taylor Fritz as the only active American Masters 1000 champions (Fritz won the BNP Paribas Open in 2022).

“Every six months or so that I watch Ben, I feel like I notice something that he’s doing so much better, something that he’s changed that has made his game better,” observed countryman Tommy Paul. “He’s got an amazing team around him. He’s a great kid. It was really cool watching him play those matches in Toronto. To have another Masters 1000 champ for America is great. It motivates all of us.”

“All of our goals are to win a Slam, but you’ve got to start by winning a Masters 1000. I don’t think you skip that step. Fritz and Ben are leading the way right now.”

It’s been quite a journey for Shelton, who played for his father at the University of Florida. But the 22-year-old, the youngest American Masters 1000 champion since Andy Roddick at the Miami Open in 2004, mostly kept his emotions in check in Canada.

“There was nothing crazy, to be honest,” he said. “I’m very goal oriented, but also process oriented, and what I was most happy about was my play throughout the week and the areas that I saw improvements. The little things, that’s what made me the most excited. To get a title like that, I’m happy. I’m happy being able to do it with my people.

But I was kind of more excited about the way that I was playing. That’s what the coolest part for me is. We enjoyed it 100 percent, but there was never a crazy celebration. It was a pretty quick turnaround. No time for it.”

As he preps for Sunday’s opener against 47th-ranked Argentine Camilo Ugo Carabelli, and eventually, the US Open, Shelton isn’t sweating the expectations that inevitably come with success. Not those that come from the outside, anyway.

“I don’t really feel expectations other than what me and my team put on myself, which is more about effort and intention than results,” he said. “That’s always kind of how I go into a tournament. Whatever happens, happens. I know that the way I play, I have big weeks. I also know that there’s a lot of great players on tour and any given day, you can get upset or beat. So I don’t think about expectations that much. I just think about my goals in terms of where I want to see my game.”