Ben Shelton has had a strange clay-court season thus far, marred by recent early exits at two Masters 1000 events.
It marked an unfortunate missed opportunity for the American, unable to capitalise on a strong start to this swing after he had won the title in Munich.
Alas, he remains one of the favourites to shine at Roland Garros despite his troublesome form, owed to the fact that he has the intangible qualities to shine no matter the surface, as long as the occasion is big enough.
Speaking after his latest surprise defeat, this time to Nikoloz Basilashvili, Tracy Austin and Jim Courier discussed whether it is time to start worrying about Shelton.
Tracy Austin says if she’s worried about Ben Shelton
It was the former of the two pundits who kick-started this conversation on Tennis Channel, with Austin admitting: “I’m not super concerned, but it’s a little bit concerning.”
What did worry the American was how easily Basilashvili was able to exploit Shelton’s weaknesses, as she added: Basilashvili really worked on Ben’s backhand.
How far does Ben Shelton make it at Roland Garros?
“And Basilashvili has that huge forehand, and he was able to get it targeted enough, and sometimes Ben was hitting it short and Basilashvili would get that big forehand and get Ben on a string.
“And when you’re getting into a longer rally with Basilashvili playing this well, as you said, he’s kind of hot right now. He was getting time on the return, backing up, getting that return back deep, and then starting the points. It can be concerning for Ben.
“And when you start to take these hits early, it does dent your confidence a little bit.”
Courier then chimed in, suggesting that there will be a debate within the Shelton team about whether now is the time to return to America.
He admitted: “It’s never comfortable for an American player to be sort of marooned in Europe with that much free time. Then you start having the discussions, ‘Should I go home for a week, and then hit the reset button, and then come back to Paris, or should I just grind it out?’”
In the same show, Austin also massively disagreed with what Alexander Zverev had to say about Carlos Alcaraz.
Ben Shelton’s unpredictable clay-court season so far
As referenced throughout, Shelton’s clay-court season has been an odd one.
After all, he began in Houston, but was shocked by Thiago Agustín Tirante in the quarter-final. In an effort to bounce back, the 23-year-old played doubles during that week and would go on to win his first ATP doubles title.
Then, heading to Europe, Shelton impressed in the German capital, beating young stars like Alexander Blockx and Joao Fonseca on his way to the biggest clay-court title of his career.
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Many expected him to translate that form into Madrid, but he was disappointingly defeated by an in-form Dino Prižmić in the very first round.
That could be excused, but his recent defeat to Basilashvili presents a far more worrying situation for Shelton and his team right before Roland Garros.
