Ben Shelton is not impressing everyone on the ATP Tour with his recent on-court antics.
Shelton has made history at the BMW Open this week, after beating Francisco Cerundolo to reach the final in Munich.
It has been an impressive response from Shelton, who lost early in Monte Carlo last week after being beaten by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his only singles match at the tournament.
Despite losing in singles, Shelton remained in the doubles draw, where he was involved in a moment of controversy for what he did in one of his matches.
Andrea Vavassori claims his relationship with Ben Shelton is over
In the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters doubles tournament, Shelton and veteran partner Rohan Bopanna beat third seeds Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli in somewhat of an upset.
However, the biggest talking point from the match actually came when Shelton hit a ball at Vavassori, who was standing at the net, in just the second game of the match.
While Shelton put his hand up at the time, the incident was brought back up again after the match when Vavassori approached him.
Shelton did not take kindly to this and told Vavassori, ‘It’s tennis, bro, not baseball’, before calling the Italian ‘so soft’.
A week on from this heated moment, Vavassori spoke to Tennis World Italia about the incident and criticized Shelton’s behavior.
“I think it’s over with Shelton, even for the future,” said Vavassori. “In general. I didn’t like how he behaved.
“Then it depends on him, if he comes and apologizes after making fun of me for causing me a rib fracture… I’m someone who always forgives, I can forget things even immediately. If he doesn’t take a step, I certainly won’t.”
Vavassori added, “I’m absolutely not a doubles player who says you shouldn’t shoot at me, but I told him: ‘Be careful when you shoot so hard, so close. You can hurt. And you hurt me, something in my rib for sure.’
“I was p***** off for getting injured and watching the video I was sorry that he taunted me. He basically hurt me and he also made fun of me.”
What injury did Ben Shelton cause Andrea Vavassori?
Not only did Vavassori lose the match against Shelton, but the shot hit at his ribs also forced him to withdraw from his subsequent tournament in Barcelona.
When explaining the severity of his injury, Vavassori revealed that he would have to spend 10 days away from the court.
“I had this fracture to my rib, of a millimeter,” explained Vavassori. “Nothing serious, but I have to stay ten days without playing. It’s better not to do it above the pain because it would lengthen the recovery time.
“Until the callus forms I have to give it time to cool down. It bothers me especially when serving. In the days before the blow I had taken a Brufen for a sore elbow, it helped me cover the pain. It was conditioning more than anything on a mental level, because I realized I had hurt myself.”
While Vavassori has been recovering on the sidelines, Shelton has reached his first ever ATP 500 final on clay.
Shelton will play top seed Alexander Zverev, who has found some form after a disappointing few months following the Australian Open, for the Munich title.
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