Ben Shelton turned down a visit from the physio after he accidentally smashed his racket into his head during his match against Sebastian Korda. The 21-year-old found himself a break down in the final set of their quarter-final match when his racket made contact with his head, forcing him to go down in pain. But he was able to break back and later rejected any medical help despite having a big “lump”.
Shelton was 0-30 up on the Korda serve at 3-4 in the final set when he ran to hit a forehand and ended up sending the frame of his racket straight into his head. The world No 20 crouched on the floor in pain as his father and coach Bryan could be seen standing up and looking concerned.
The American stood up and held his head again as he retreated to his towel while the umpire asked if he needed the trainer. But Shelton said he was fine as he shook out his head. And the 19th seed wasn’t wrong as he went on to break Korda’s serve to draw level at 4-4.
Shelton was then forced to save two more break points in the following game but he fended off the 23-year-old and sat down with a 5-4 lead, having been 2-4 down and a point away from trailing 2-5. During the changeover, the chair official tried to check whether the youngster needed medical help again.
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive tennis news
“I thought I cracked my head open. I have like a huge lump there,” Shelton said. “But it’s not bleeding?” chair umpire Manuel Messina asked. “No, no bleeding. It’s like a big lump,” the American responded.
The official still wanted to know whether Shelton needed any extra help with the physio standing by at the entrance to the court. “Do you want some ice?” he added, with the world No 20 rejecting his offer. The trainer could be seen laughing and turning back to leave the court after getting the all clear.
The match went down to the wire in a final set tiebreak where it was Korda who raced to a 6-1 lead, holding five match points. But Shelton refused to go down without a fight, having already dug himself out of a hole in the third set.
The younger American stormed back to get to 6-6 but immediately relinquished another mini-break, giving Korda his sixth match point. This time, the world No 26 was able to get the job done after two hours and 56 minutes. Korda came from a set down to pull off a 6-7(1) 6-2 7-6(6) victory and reach his first Masters semi-final.
