“I wished to be somewhat bit completely different from anybody else,” Ben Shelton stated just lately in Madrid.
He was truly speaking about his determination final yr to signal a serious cope with the small-but-growing Swiss shoe and attire producer On, quite than pursuing a sure American behemoth with a well-known swoosh. (Extra on that in a bit.) The Floridian was within the early days of a three-month sojourn in Europe that can final so long as he does at Wimbledon, which ends in mid-July.
However Shelton, who’s 21, might have been speaking about something to do together with his budding tennis profession, which has been the alternative of cookie-cutter.
Soccer (the American variety), along with tennis, till center college? Completely different.
Common highschool quite than a tennis academy? Completely different.
Zero junior Grand Slam appearances? Completely different.
Main doses of collegiate exuberance: the “Yeah!” after massive and small pictures, the since-retired, hang-up-the-phone exclamation level on his wins? Completely different.
And now that the clay swing is right here, Shelton is as soon as extra reducing in opposition to the grain, transferring on to Rome and the Italian Open as he treats a third-round loss in Spain final week as simply one other step in tackling one thing that has beguiled most American males for lengthy whereas.
That will be that pink clay.
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The simple brutality of Shelton’s tennis, which carried him to the semi-finals of the U.S. Open final yr, might be deceiving.
He can blast his serve at 150mph (241kph) and rocket forehands like few others, reducing factors quick at a breath or stealing momentum in a rally.
At first look, that offers him the type of stereotypical, massive American recreation that gained’t simply translate to the grime. Different notable Yanks with these qualities have principally held their noses and endured these months of attritional-style tennis, counting the times till the grass and laborious courts of summer season.
Nicely, that’s not how Shelton rolls.
He spent the 2 weeks main as much as his departure for Spain at a hardcore clay-court boot camp. “I labored on the issues that I wanted to: on the courtroom, off the courtroom, power, health, transferring,” he stated. “I simply actually honed in.”
Relatively than enduring the delicate stuff, Shelton is embracing it. That is one thing different American males have historically prevented, together with his personal father and coach, Bryan, a touring professional within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties. He typically swerved pink clay apart from the French Open, and the odd different event, for many of his profession.
“I noticed too late that my recreation was fairly well-suited to it,” he stated after a observe session together with his son final week. “I had this massive kick-serve. I might push guys again. It opened up the courtroom.” He shook his head, nonetheless aggravated together with his youthful self, 30 years on.
His child isn’t letting such assumptions take root. He’s taking a special strategy.
Late final yr, Shelton requested Gabriel Echevarria, a veteran coach, to affix his crew full-time as a power and conditioning coach. It was one other off-beat however logical transfer for somebody who’s as sturdy as a lumberjack and might run like a deer however stays liable to being wrong-footed or taken off-balance.
![](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/04/30080920/Ben-Shelton-Clay-Interview-scaled.jpg)
Shelton desires to maneuver on the grime like one of the best of them (Julian Finney/Getty Photographs)
Echevarria, who spent the previous dozen years working for the U.S. Tennis Affiliation and Tennis Australia, is Argentinian. He has a repute for possessing a particular information of what it takes to realize correct motion and steadiness in tennis — particularly on clay, the commonest tennis floor in Argentina.
The perfect candidate to steer a crash course.
The commonest mistake for clay-court newbies, Echevarria stated, is sliding after the shot, which wastes time, quite than sliding into the shot. Sure pictures require fewer steps, or smaller ones, or an additional step.
“If we be taught the talent, then we will develop the talent, however the very first thing is to be taught the correct means,” Echevarria explains. “When you be taught the correct means, the mannequin sample, then we will develop that talent.”
Shelton perceives Echevarria as a form of clay whisperer, who has helped him to know its idiosyncrasies. “The clay courtroom is just a bit bit completely different than the laborious courtroom,” Shelton says. “You may’t do the identical issues.”
So, earlier than every day of coaching, not in Monte Carlo or Barcelona the place tournaments had been occurring however again house in Florida, Echevarria and Shelton’s father would discuss what motion to deal with. Generally, it was studying how one can run diagonally, which occurs typically on clay due to all of the drop pictures and slices. Different instances, it was how one can get better and shift from one shot to the following.
Then, Shelton would head onto the courtroom to check out what he had simply realized for 2 or three hours. After a break and a few lunch, afternoons consisted of extra time on the courtroom if Bryan felt it was vital, and/or as much as 90 minutes within the gymnasium. It was gruelling, and uncovered Shelton to the necessity to attune himself to what he discovered below his toes.
“Each clay courtroom is just a bit bit completely different,” he says.
![](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/04/30081216/Ben-Shelton-Serve-Clay-scaled.jpg)
Shelton’s serve permits him to dominate, even on the slower floor (Julian Finney/Getty Photographs)
“The bounces are unpredictable, so you may’t at all times depend on short-hopping a ball — taking a ball early. You will get too near the bounce or set your toes too early and the bounce might be unpredictable and go in a path that you simply don’t assume it’s gonna go,” he explains.
That is significantly true in Madrid, the place the altitude (2,000ft/650m above sea stage) provides velocity to the flight of the ball, creating the form of circumstances that left Daniil Medvedev gesturing at his teaching crew with impotent rage, pissed off by being in the appropriate place on the unsuitable time, or perhaps the opposite means round. Rome, softer, slower, at sea stage, carries its personal quirks.
Shelton? He isn’t bothered. He’s considerate, and he’s right here for it.
“You might have somewhat bit extra time to play as a result of, in most locations, the clay is somewhat bit slower than laborious courts, however truly right here in Madrid, it’s actually quick,” he stated.
“However for essentially the most half, the sport slows down a bit. So you could have extra time, which I actually like. However on the identical time, you gotta learn to use that point and learn to defend in opposition to guys who even have extra time.”
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These are the phrases of somebody decided to not repeat their father’s sins, somebody who desires to be somewhat completely different than what a whole lot of the world would possibly anticipate of a participant together with his distinctive model of uncooked energy and athleticism.
It was not so completely different from the selection he made somewhat greater than a yr in the past to roll the cube a bit in that cope with On.
He had attended faculty on the College of Florida, a quintessential Nike college. So lots of the greatest figures in American tennis and American sports activities have turn out to be synonymous with the swoosh through the years: John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Michael Jordan Tiger Woods, LeBron James, and on and on.
“I didn’t wish to be one in all 50 Nike guys,” Shelton says. “Clearly it was additionally an enormous draw with On having in all probability the most important icon within the historical past of tennis — , apart from, like, Serena (Williams).” Shelton is referencing Roger Federer, who acquired a major stake in On 5 years in the past, with the corporate constructing and launching a debut tennis attire assortment on the again of his involvement, together with that of Shelton and the ladies’s world No 1 Iga Swiatek.
Right here was Shelton, a dude, a male tennis star no much less, form of, type of, placing Federer a slot behind Serena Williams within the sport’s pecking order, or at the very least placing them on the identical airplane. That doesn’t occur too typically.
![](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/05/07122714/Ben-Shelton-Houston-scaled.jpg)
Shelton on his solution to the title in Houston this yr (Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Photographs)
On an unseasonably chilly Saturday night in Madrid two weeks in the past, Shelton took the courtroom for his opening match in opposition to Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic.
Machac, who’s 23, has been tearing by a number of the finest gamers on this planet this season. He performs a silky, deceptively highly effective, all-court recreation and, like most central European gamers, largely grew up on clay.
He could also be ranked 35 spots under Shelton, who’s now world No. 14, however he’s the type of participant who has confirmed to be a nightmare for Individuals on clay virtually eternally.
Shelton promptly tore by Machac, 6-0, 6-2.
He used his energy to push the Czech far behind the baseline, then moved ahead himself, sending volleys and drop pictures into the open courtroom. He took benefit of that little additional time clay provides — “I really like time on the ball,” he says — and jumped throughout Machac’s second serve, taking it early, claiming the momentum.
Two days later, Shelton was a degree away from a probable cruise to a straight-set win over Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan. He struggled to deal with a few Bublik’s notoriously relentless drop pictures, scrambling uncomfortably, and that allowed Bublik the crack of sunshine he wanted to climb again into the match. The Kazakh would win in three units, 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4.
This was the stay model of the clay tutorial Shelton is searching for from Echevarria. Whatever the defeat, it was a 180-degree turnaround from when he landed in Europe a yr in the past for his first red-clay season. “Final yr, I simply had no concept what to anticipate,” he stated.
That’s not his fault. There simply isn’t a whole lot of pink clay in America, the place gamers largely be taught the sport on laborious courts.
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Rising up in Florida, Shelton performed some on inexperienced clay, which is tougher to maneuver on and produces far much less predictable bounces than the pink selection. Sloane Stephens, one other Floridian and the 2018 French Open runner-up, calls pink clay “the actual stuff”. Nonetheless, Shelton barely hit a ball on clay after he turned 16 and his focus shifted to school tennis, which is a hard-court affair.
His match at present, Friday Could 10, in Rome in opposition to Pavel Kotov shall be simply his sixteenth skilled contest on clay, and that features 4 wins within the U.S. Clay Courtroom Championships in Houston early final month. He gained that event and, whereas any ATP Tour title is nothing to sneeze at, Shelton knew he remained effectively wanting being able to contend at Roland Garros. So, the boot camp. The educational. The discomfort, the embrace of one thing not fairly what he anticipated. Being, in a phrase, completely different.
Some good tennis gamers turn out to be nice by changing into the next high quality model of the participant they had been after they first broke into the tour. Others go from good to nice by opening their thoughts to new abilities.
What’s Shelton?
“He’s like a sponge,” Echevarria says.
![](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/04/30084844/Ben-Shelton-On-US-Open-scaled.jpg)
Shelton’s slingshot serve is a trademark of his recreation (On)
Shelton emerged from that boot camp believing he might thrive on clay, perhaps not at present or tomorrow, however ultimately.
Clay forces him to turn out to be the form of participant he desires to be — a risk on each floor not just because his serve is a game-altering cruise missile, however as a result of he can transfer the ball across the courtroom with spin and top over the web, and are available into the web and volley into an open courtroom and grind when the second requires it.
“Individuals haven’t had one of the best success within the clay-court season or at Roland Garros, however it’d be actually cool to vary that narrative,” he says.
He additionally doesn’t assume he has a selection. Clay season lasts two months. It’s not the four-week dash grass season is. There are just too many rankings factors up for grabs on clay courts for somebody with designs on reaching the highest of the sport to concede something.
Individuals aren’t usually identified for his or her endurance. They like stuff now — fast gratification. Specializing in course of over outcomes doesn’t at all times come naturally. However as soon as extra, Shelton is somewhat completely different in that space, with some nudging from Echevarria and his father.
He’s approaching this clay swing as he did the boot camp, as a possibility to be taught, to gather info, to investigate how he has improved, to see if he can execute all these step patterns and all that sliding on essentially the most well-known crushed pink brick on this planet.
If successful occurs, nice. If not? Advantageous. Identical to clay requires, Staff Shelton is taking part in an extended recreation.
“We don’t get pissed off,” Echevarria says. “We don’t fear about it as a result of we all know that, guess what? The French Open goes to be performed on clay subsequent yr. It’s going to be performed on clay for 100 years.”
(Prime photographs: L-R: On; Centre: ATP Tour; design: Dan Goldfarb)