Ben Shelton’s Wimbledon run has come to an abrupt end, halted by the unstoppable force that is Jannik Sinner.
It’s almost laughable how good the world number one is, even when supposedly hampered by injury.
Taking a tumble during his match against Grigor Dimitrov and jarring his elbow, which seemed to be strapped throughout yesterday’s clash, was not enough to diminish the Italian’s powers.
He still serves bombs, and his groundstrokes remain as relentless as ever.
Shelton cut a really downbeat figure during his post-match press conference, forced to assess the straight-sets defeat he had just been handed.
One question asked him to rate how his year had gone thus far.
Ben Shelton rates his year so far after losing Wimbledon quarter-final
Realistically, for the American, this has been a really positive year.
Reaching the second week at Wimbledon marked the third straight Grand Slam where he had achieved that feat, all coming in 2025.
And yet, Shelton’s mannerisms in the media room suggested otherwise.
He answered the question about his year by stating: “I’m definitely not satisfied. You know, it would be a little bit tone deaf to say dissatisfied… with what I was able to put together on the clay and the grass courts.
“I always say that I want to, you know, go one step deeper at the big tournaments than I did the year before, and I’ve done that at every slam year, I’ve done something that I haven’t done before, and Australia, French, and here. So, I wouldn’t say that I’m satisfied, but yeah, can I be, or feel confident coming off, you know, the first three slams in the season, going on the fourth.
“Encouraged and excited about obviously being at the US Open because of what I’ve put together so far this year but yeah, at the same time, still stings.”
This comes after Shelton complained to the Wimbledon umpire during his fourth-round match against Lorenzo Sonego, failing to find that same fire against Jannik Sinner.
Ben Shelton is now heading into his favourite part of the season
Given how consistently dangerous Shelton has been all year, going deep in plenty of elite events, it should worry the rest of the tour at the prospect of now moving onto his favourite part of the season.
A return to the US to play the final hard-court swing of the year will afford the 22-year-old the perfect final platform to exhibit all the progress he has made throughout a transformative 2025, even if he still cannot quite get past the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
This duo has routinely dumped him out of Grand Slams in recent years, as the only two who are consistently stopping Shelton from reaching semi-finals and finals.
But, with time for additional training to properly prepare and iron out his weaknesses, these next few months have the potential to be the best of Shelton’s young career thus far.
