Ben Shelton shared his thoughts on witnessing the epic clash between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in the French Open final. The American exited the tournament in the fourth round after being defeated by the Spaniard in another neck-to-neck display.
Shelton acknowledged that he wouldn’t tune into a tennis tournament after he had been out, but would rather watch some other sport or not watch anything at all. However, to his surprise, he found himself hooked on the fifth-set tiebreak between Alcaraz and Sinner.
In an episode of the 2nd Serve show by the Tennis Channel, Shelton spoke about the ‘insane moment’ between the two, which kept his eyes glued to the screen. He said:
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"The serve was a non-factor. They were putting the serve in the box and going to war. And I, it was really entertaining at the points that they were having. Every point, it was crazy. And for me, it was the tiebreaker that was the most insane," he said.
He further elaborated that Alcaraz's last few points were some of the most controlled tennis displays he had seen.
"Those first six or seven points from Alcaraz, you go back in and you watch those. And that's some of the most clutch tennis I've seen at 6-all on the fifth in my life," he added.
Ben Shelton also spoke on playing both Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz and how his playing styles change when preparing to face them.
Ben Shelton on changed playing styles due to Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz
In the same interview, Ben Shelton even gave a coherent response when asked how he and other contemporaries would change their playing styles to take on Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. He spoke about himself and elaborated on his strengths and weaknesses against the duo.
"I'm not really a guy who just rallies on the baseline. So it's a whole different matchup when playing both of them. I've had a lot of chances recently, like sets that didn't close out, set points on my racket. They play the clutch points, the big points really well and make you earn it," he said.
The 22-year-old American went on to speak about how he looks to learn from them. Even though his losses in the Australian and French Opens stung him, he was glad to lose against the back-to-back champions in both tournaments.
