Not many, if any, sports stars can claim to be as suave as tennis legend Roger Ferderer. The Swiss Maestro, 42, retired last year, leaving behind an unforgettable legacy, that includes 108 singles titles, 20 men’s singles Grand Slams, six ATP Tour Finals wins, a singles Olympic silver medal from London 2012 and a doubles Olympic gold medal from the 2008 Bejing Games.
Federer’s most fierce rivals, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray are still in the game – but the next generation of tennis stars are coming thick and fast. The likes of Holger Rune, and Casper Ruud are tipped to carry the torch when the time comes but they may have to worry about America’s next big thing, Ben Shelton.
The 21-year-old made his Grand Slam debut at the US Open in 2021 and featured again in 2022. Twenty-twenty-three, however, has been Shelton’s breakout year and his first full season of Grand Slam tennis. Shelton reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open at the start of the year and followed it up with first and second-round features at Rolland Garros and Wimbledon.
The 2023 US Open was where he made his mark, though, reaching the semi-finals on home soil. Shelton crashed out to Novak Djokovic in the final four, feeling the might of the Serbian’s 24 singles Grand Slams full force.
Shelton has a lot of learning and growing to do and says he’s taking tips from the retired Federer both on and off the court. “I get style inspiration from different people, other athletes, and Instagram,” Shelton told ON. “Roger is one of those guys who can do it all. He can do it on the court, he can do it off the court, he can do it at the Met Gala, he can do it at Wimbledon.”
He added: “I’m trying to have a growth mindset. I’m competitive and I want to win but I have to remind myself that I’m nowhere near where I want to be with some things. Yeah, hopefully, I have a long career ahead of me and time to fine-tune my style.”
Shelton is determined for his hard work to shine through when he steps onto the court. He doesn’t believe in pre-game superstitions but relies on a good diet, and good music to get him pumped up. “I’m not a superstitious ritual guy,” Shelton adds. “My warm-ups vary. I eat different things.
“I do like to listen to aggressive hip-hop to hype myself up before I go on court, but it just comes down to hard work. Hard work is not something that I’m just ‘whatever’ about. When it’s time for me to really put in work, I’m fine being the first guy to show up to the facility or the last guy to leave.”
