Ben Shelton lost from a set-up against Felix Auger-Aliassime to end his hopes of qualifying for the semifinals of the ATP Finals.
Ben Shelton was left stunned against Alexander Zverev, and he can be forgiven for being pretty shellshocked in his second group match.
After taking the first set 6-4, Shelton contrived to lose 7-6, 7-5, with only Jannik Sinner left to play in Turin.
Shelton has confessed he has issues in his game that need ironing out, and some of them once again reared their head against Auger-Aliassime.
American star Shelton was given a tough draw for the ATP Finals, and after this latest defeat, a former top-five ATP star has issued some advice to him going forward.
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What Tim Henman thinks Ben Shelton needs to do more
Although Shelton is renowned for boasting a very useful and powerful serve, the Sky Sports Tennis pundit doesn’t feel as though he’s utilising it to his full potential at the moment.
Shelton’s serve is strong and quite clearly, it’s a very important part of his game.
However, the pundit and former top-five player doesn’t believe that he’s quite got things working in his favour at the moment when it comes to that aspect of his game.
Henman said: “I am a Ben Shelton fan. I know his Dad, I played at the same time as him.
“He has a huge weapon, and when he uses it, that is when he is at his most dangerous, there is no doubt, but the number of times that he actually uses it, I think, is very debatable.
“That first set, he was able to hold on to his own serve, and in all honesty, it was Auger-Aliassime who played a couple of very shaky service games with a lot of unforced errors to lose his serve in the first set.
“But in the second set, things started to settle down a little bit. For me, it’s open to debate as to why Shelton is playing like this. I don’t think he needs to be an all-court player. It’s almost like he’s trying to improve all aspects of his game and get away from his identity.
Furthermore, Henman has also suggested that Shelton needs to perhaps mix things up a bit with the former serve and volley specialist, suggesting a similar approach for the American.
He continued: “He should be working on becoming more effective at the net, because when you have a serve like that, you are going to have so many opportunities to knock a volley off into the open court. Players stand so far back that if you can hit your spots and get inside the service line, the volley does not have to be that difficult.
“But I question again, how often is he using that serve? Is there an injury concern?
“I know when I played some of the biggest and best service, whether that was Sampras or Ivanisevic or Philippoussis or Krajicek, when you are standing to serve a return of serve and you know they are going to hit their fastest serve in the corner, that is a nightmare.
“If they suddenly were to go to a three-quarter serve, it’s like okay, I can get onto this, and Shelton serves a lot faster than all those players, so if you have the weapon, I think you have to use it a lot more.”
Should Alexander Zverev get a new coach?
Bryan Shelton would surely agree with Tim Henman’s sentiment
In an interview with the Tennis Insider Club earlier this year, Shelton alluded to this very claim that Henman has now made.
He claimed that he would love to see his son play at least one serve and volley point per game to try and mix things up a little bit.
Shelton is only 23, and he’s essentially only been on the tour for a few years, with the best year to come in his career.
The American has already made it through to two Grand Slam semifinals, and the potential is significant when it comes to Shelton.
Now, the challenge is for him to mix things up a little bit and if he can add more strings to his bow on the court, he could win major titles in the future.
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