Ben Shelton, who capped his sophomore season by winning the 2022 NCAA men's singles championship to became just the third UF player (and first since 1997) to win the NCAA singles crown, will make his pro debut this weekend at the U.S. Open.
Ben Shelton Turning Pro
Tuesday, August 23, 2022 | Men's Tennis
Share:
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With four ATP tournaments under his belt, and already a couple runner-up finishes as an amateur, University of Florida junior tennis standout Ben Shelton was pretty fired up when he got a wild-card invite to play in the Western & Southern Open last week in Cincinnati. The event was to serve as the last tune-up before the U.S. Open and thus featured a loaded draw, including eight of the top 10-ranked players in the world.
"I wasn't even sure I'd get the opportunity to play there, so it was pretty surreal," said Shelton, the 2022 the NCAA men's singles championship. "I went there just knowing I was going to enjoy the moment and that I was playing with house money."
Then Shelton won his first-round match against Italy's Lorenzo Sonego, the world's No. 56-ranked player and advanced to the Round of 32 to face Norway's Casper Ruud, just two months removed from his runner-up finish to Rafael Nadal in the French Open and had climbed to No. 5 in the world.
No, it wasn't the mega-upset of Ruud that led to the announcement Tuesday that Shelton, the Gators' rising superstar, was foregoing his final two years of collegiate eligibility and turning pro. Consider that outcome, though, validation that Shelton is ready for the next challenge.
"My decision wasn't a results-based thing and never was going to be," said Shelton, believed to be the first UF amateur (male or female) to knock off a top-10 player in the world. "It was always going to be based on where I am as a player and a person. At this point, for me and my family, I think this is the best thing for me to do to push my tennis forward and keep me on the right track as far as where I want to go and what I want to do."
The patriarch of that family, of course, is Bryan Shelton, the Florida head coach who the past three years has watched his son graduate from high school a year early, win the clinching point as a freshman that gave the UF program its first team national championship in men's tennis, ascend to the top of the collegiate ranks in singles as a sophomore, then cap the '22 season as SEC Player of the Year and by becoming the third singles NCAA champ in UF history.
As a player, Ben Shelton helped take the program to all-time heights while checking all the boxes. What else is there to accomplish?
And yet the decision was much more complex than that.
"It was difficult," Bryan Shelton said. "Ben has some things he really wants to do in the game, so he looks at it from a macro sense of 'Where I want to be.' He also knows he's been given a lot. He has a lot of gifts and being here at the University of Florida is one of those gifts. To be able to have come here a year early and experience what he has with these people, to have the opportunity to develop and see his game take off the last two years …? With that, he feels some responsibility to all the people who have helped him along the way. That was the difficult part, for all of us. The feeling of not finishing his eligibility and that in moving forward he's kind of leaving us behind, in a way. That's hard. But what he's heading toward, that's exciting."
On the immediate horizon is a spot in the U.S. Open. He'll leave Tuesday for New York, with the tournament's bracket reveal set for Thursday.
Shelton's left-handed game is a wicked combination of power and finesse that has matured incredibly over the past year, both mentally (with his patience) and physically (his return of serve). A 6-foot-4, 195-pound fiery competitor whose athletic roots include football and basketball, Shelton combines confidence, temperament, humility and grace with a fearlessness of failure. It makes for quite the youthful package (all backed by a world-class serve).
And with his 20th birthday still six weeks away there's so much room for growth.
Ben Shelton is 16-6 (but now with two Top 100 wins on the ATP Tour) in his two seasons playing as an amateur on the ATP Challenger Tour.
"I have a lot of people in place that have helped and are looking forward to helping me in the next step," said Shelton, whose ATP Challenger Tour record as an amateur was 16-6. "I believe I'll be able to be successful."
A handful of those people were pivotal in his success at Florida, but now will have to watch Shelton from afar. That may be the element of this life's decision that tugs at Shelton most.
He can take solace, though, that he gave so much to all he is leaving behind.
"A lot of people don't understand what it means to be a Gator and how special this place is," said Shelton, who is committed to finish work toward a finance degree online. "I love all these guys on the team and I'm definitely going to miss being part of a team and playing for something bigger than yourself. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth to leave, but I can smile at all the memories I've made here, all the relationships I've made here, which are more important than any trophies or individual successes I've had."
But the trophies were pretty cool, obviously, On that front, Shelton does not hesitate when asked which of the two big ones — team or singles championship — he holds dearest.
"One hundred percent, the team. Not even close," he said. "Being able to do that with your brothers, side by side, and knowing how much you put into every day to put yourself in that position -- you and your boys — that's way more fun than winning anything by yourself."
Cherished memories that no one can ever take away. Kind of like playing with house money.
