Ben Shelton lost his Australian Open semi-final to Jannik Sinner in straight sets on Rod Laver Arena.
Shelton has an impressive record at majors, but he has not been able to reach a final yet.
This follows his only previous Grand Slam semi-final, where Shelton lost to Novak Djokovic at the US Open also in straight sets.
Despite his loss, Shelton has been predicted to win major tournaments in the future.
Ben Shelton highlights area of Jannik Sinner’s game he could exploit
Although he lost in straight sets, Shelton did have two chances to take the opening set against Sinner.
Laura Robson claims that Sinner is not playing his best, and Shelton has agreed that not all areas of the world number one’s game were firing.
“I think that he probably would say that he didn’t hit his backhand return as well as he wanted to today,” Shelton said in his press conference. “That was one place where I felt like I was getting some free points, even though I wasn’t hitting great serves. Certainly you’re playing a great returner like him, you want to be more on it. You want to be more dialed into your spots.
“I don’t feel like I was pressing too hard today because he’s a guy that handles pace pretty well. Usually he’s pretty far back. The pace doesn’t do as much.”
Sinner only hit one return winner against Shelton, but managed to break the American six times.
Ben Shelton pinpoints area of his own game that ‘wasn’t there’ at the Australian Open
It was not just the Italian’s game that was not at its best, with Sinner claiming that Shelton’s serve was not firing as usual.
Shelton hit the hardest serve in Wimbledon history last year, but only managed to win 57% of points on his first serve against Sinner and hit six double faults.
This is something that Shelton admitted, suggesting that he only one played one match at the Australian Open this year where he served well.
“My spot serving I thought just wasn’t there tonight,” said Sinner. “Honestly, that’s been one thing for me this whole tournament, I thought that I haven’t served too great. I’ve been making up with my plus-ones, doing it with my forehand. I’ve honestly been breaking serve a lot. That was just one thing that outside of the Carreno Busta match that never clicked for me.
“It’s just something to keep going back and improving on. I thought that from the ground I played well. I thought I volleyed pretty well. I thought I returned well. I put myself in positions. I broke twice in the first, and I put myself in positions to break early in the second and the third, the second serve returns on break points or deep in a rally on a break point.
“Like I said, sometimes those chances are gone. They don’t come again. But that’s the one thing for me that has to be better.”
Shelton will now head back to the US for the upgraded ATP 500 tournament in Dallas.
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