Ben Shelton says what he thinks about the courts at the Australian Open this year after winning his first round match

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American youngster Ben Shelton is looking to improve his solid Australian Open record at this year’s tournament.

Having taken a slight step back in 2024, Shelton will be looking to push forward this season and achieve great things on the ATP Tour.

American tennis legend Andy Roddick predicted how Shelton will do in 2025, saying that he could finish the year ‘close to the top ten’.

Shelton’s year didn’t get off to the best of starts however, as he lost to Jakub Mensik in the first round of the ASB Classic in Auckland.

Keen to bounce back, the 22-year-old put on an impressive display during his first-round match against fellow American Brandon Nakashima, as he defeated him in straight sets.

Shelton was in full flow, and spoke to the media after the match, explaining just how well suited he is to the conditions at this year’s Australian Open.

Ben Shelton says he ‘loves’ the conditions at the 2025 Australian Open

During his post-match press conference, Shelton was asked how he feels about the conditions in Melbourne.

“I love them,” he said.

“For me it’s warm, it’s not hot, I feel like I can go all day.

“This is one of the warmest days that it’s going to be here, there wasn’t really ever a point in the match that I felt winded at all.

“We were having a lot of long rallies, in a Ben Shelton match, usually the rallies are a little shorter than what we were having today, that gives me a lot of confidence.”

Shelton was particularly happy with how the courts complimented his game.

“For me, I’m feeling really good, I like the way that the court is playing in terms of the bounce,” he said.

“Obviously depending on where you play, everything is going to be different.

“You get an outside court, it’s going to be lightning and the balls are going to be skidding, but you play on a stadium like this one today, and you kind of got to adjust to slow balls getting heavy.

“Last game before the ball changed they were pretty torn up.”

The American star battled past Nakashima 7-6, 7-5, 7-5, as he scored his third win over his countrymen.

He didn’t have things all his own way, however, as Nakashima was just two points away from taking the first set when Shelton produced an audacious lob to secure himself a breakpoint.

Can Ben Shelton recover his 2023 Grand Slam form at this year’s Australian Open?

Shelton burst onto the scene in 2023 with several huge performances at Major tournaments that had many expecting even better things in 2024.

That didn’t quite transpire, however, as the American failed to reach a Slam quarter-final last year, despite reaching the third round of all four tournaments.

His performances at the Australian Open, and US Open in 2023 were mighty, and will no doubt give him the confidence to achieve big things this year in Melbourne.

The now 22-year-old American went 9-2 at hard-court Grand Slams in 2023, with his most impressive performance coming in the quarter-finals of the US Open.

Shelton took down Frances Tiafoe in four sets to secure his spot in the last four of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career.

If Shelton can produce a few performances like that in Melbourne this year, then he’ll be a dangerous prospect for the rest of the ATP Tour to come up against.

Shelton will return to the court to play Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round on Thursday, January 16.