Ben Shelton told one area of his game is ‘nowhere near good enough’ after he loses to Felix Auger-Aliassime

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Ben Shelton has been eliminated from the ATP Finals after losing his opening two matches.

The American led by a set to love in his second group stage match, but couldn’t get the job done, as Shelton lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-4, 6-7, 5-7.

Shelton struggled on return throughout the match, as the world number five’s reliance on his serve began to haunt him.

Working for Sky Sports, former American doubles star Ryan Harrison told Shelton that his second serve return needs a lot of work.

Ryan Harrison says Ben Shelton’s second serve return is ‘nowhere near good enough’

The 33-year-old pointed to Shelton’s return as an area that requires improvement.

“If you look at the winners to unforced errors, it is dominant from the Canadian, 37 to 22. A +15 ratio. Shelton had 26 to 30 for a -4 ratio,” said Harrison.

“That just shows you how reliant Ben Shelton is on getting free points with his serve.

“If you look at second serve points won, this is a big area of improvement for Shelton. He has to get a lot better on second serve return points, in particular.”

Harrison doesn’t think Shelton is anywhere near good enough in that area to compete with the very best in men’s tennis.

“You look at the way he is not winning the majority of the baseline rallies. In his opening match against [Alexander] Zverev, he was at 20-something percent, second serve points won,” he said.

Serving stats from Alexander Zverev vs Ben Shelton

“He is at 26% second serve points won today on return.

“That’s not good enough. Nowhere near good enough at this level when points get going.

“He has to do a lot better once these points get going.”

Harrison then analysed Shelton’s latest defeat, explaining what went wrong for his countryman against Auger-Aliassime.

“We saw him step up there in the first set, he broke serve twice, and he had a huge forehand down the line to win the opening set,” he said.

“But as Felix got his comfortability in the match, he started to get more and more reliant on just serve only and he didn’t stick to that gun enough.

“He got himself behind the eight ball in the deciding game, and he wasn’t able to hit those unreturned serves.”

Shelton still has one more chance to prove himself in Turin, although he will need to pull off a big upset if he’s to secure his first career win at the ATP Finals.

Ben Shelton will play Jannik Sinner in his next match at the ATP Finals

The 23-year-old has been eliminated from the ATP Finals and will now play Jannik Sinner in a ‘dead rubber’, with the Italian already qualified for the semifinals.

Shelton will be up against it when he faces Sinner, taking on arguably the greatest player alive.

The pair have met eight times previously, as Sinner comfortably leads their head-to-head 7-1.

After winning their first meeting at the Shanghai Masters two years ago, Shelton has lost seven on the bounce, as the Italian dominates their rivalry.

He’ll no doubt hope to return to winning ways in Turin when he plays his final group stage match at the 2025 ATP Finals.

Shelton and Sinner will play their first-ever match against each other at the ATP Finals on Friday, November 14.