Ben Shelton has shared what has been done by the Australian Open since he criticised some of the on-court interviews.
The 22-year-old will not only be remembered for reaching the semi-finals at Melbourne Park this year, but also speaking his mind on something close to his heart.
Ben Shelton was disappointed with the manner in which some of the on-court interviews that have been conducted.
Not only was he displeased with some of the interviews he has done, but the American also mentioned how Novak Djokovic was spoken about by Australian broadcaster Tony Jones and the interview with compatriot Learner Tien after beating Daniil Medvedev.
Shelton was supported by the likes of two-time Australian Open winner Chris Evert, and he has since been asked if the tournament has responded to his comments.
Has the Australian Open responded to Ben Shelton’s criticism of the on-court interviews?
After Shelton beat Lorenzo Sonego to reach the Australian Open semi-finals, he expressed his surprise with how some of the on-court interviews had been conducted.
This came after Shelton beat Gael Monfils and was told the Frenchman is “old enough to be his dad”, and it was implied that he would not have many fans on his side if he played Jannik Sinner or Alex de Minaur in the last four.
“I feel like broadcasters should be helping us grow our sport and help these athletes who just won matches on the biggest stage enjoy one of their biggest moments,” Shelton said. “I feel like there’s just been a lot of negativity. I think that’s something that needs to change.”
After Shelton lost to Sinner on Friday, he was asked if the Grand Slam has reached out to him since his comments, to which he said: “Yeah, they were very, like, Well we’re going to have some talks.
“I forget the guy’s name who I talked to. But people have been understanding, supportive of what I said, I guess. It’s not like anything was just that, that bad – especially to me. It was just kind of the cumulative stacking up of incidences is kind of what I saw.
“Haven’t seen anything since. I don’t know if you guys saw anything since, but I thought it’s been pretty good the last couple days but no-one’s really come up to me about it after that press conference.”
Ben Shelton fell short in quest to reach Australian Open final
Shelton’s quest to become the first American player to win a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick in 2003 came to an end courtesy of Sinner.
The 22-year-old made a promising start, and served for the first set, but he failed to take advantage as Sinner stormed back and won the tiebreak to take the lead.
Shelton was then unable to produce the consistent high level needed to trouble his opponent again, as he won just four more games for the rest of the contest as Sinner claimed a 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Post-match, Sinner assessed his performance while also explaining how he felt his opponent did not reach his usual standards on serve.
“It was a very tough first set but a very crucial one. I felt that he was not serving at his best today,” Sinner said about his opponent. “His percentage wasn’t where he wanted it to be and I think we both actually returned better than we served.
“The first set is always very important, it gives you a bit of confidence. There was a bit of tension for both of us. I am very happy with how I handled the situation today.”
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