Ben Shelton suffered a heartbreaking exit from the US Open after being forced to retire due to a shoulder injury.
Shelton retired against Adrian Mannarino, with the pain of his shoulder injury too much to bear after losing the fourth set.
It was a bad time for American tennis, as both Shelton and Frances Tiafoe exited the US Open within an hour of one another.
A tennis rule has been called to change following Shelton’s retirement, and he has now broken his own silence on social media.
Ben Shelton posts on Instagram for the first time since US Open retirement
After Shelton won the Canadian Open, he was seen as a potential threat to disrupt the dominance of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
The world number six looked to be working his way towards a match with Alcaraz in the quarterfinals, but his good form was disrupted by the shoulder injury.
Not only was this such bad timing for an injury to happen, it was the first time that Shelton had ever retired from a tennis match in his professional career.
Shelton has now taken to Instagram to write a brief message about his experience at the US Open this year.
He wrote, “NYC was a movie as always. Just a bad ending… I’ll be back.”
Shelton has received a lot of support since he left Louis Armstrong Stadium in tears, including from his Olympic gold medal-winning girlfriend, Trinity Rodman.
Rodman, who is a footballer for the US national team, wrote a separate message on her own Instagram to show support for Shelton.
She said, “You are strength and dedication. I love you and you will be back stronger (followed by a series of heart emojis).”
What is next for Ben Shelton?
It is currently unclear as to what the severity of Shelton’s injury actually is, as he will likely now undergo scans to see what his recovery looks like going forward.
Despite Shelton’s Grand Slam season now being over, there are still plenty of tournaments for him to play this year as he eyes a place in the ATP Finals for the first time in his career.
The 22-year-old is currently fourth in the live race to the ATP Finals, putting him in a strong position to qualify for the year-end tournament in Turin.
However, Shelton’s next scheduled event actually has no ranking points on the line, as he is set to join the likes of Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and the aforementioned Tiafoe for the Laver Cup in San Francisco.
The next scheduled tournament for Shelton is the Japan Open, where he is a former champion, with the ATP 500 event getting underway on Monday, September 22.
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