ASB Classic top seed Ben Shelton will take to the court on Wednesday night and says he's happy to be starting his year in New Zealand again.
It's the third time the 22-year-old has been in Auckland, after a whirlwind call-up in 2023 saw him leave the United States for the first time in his life.
He describes the ASB Classic as his "favourite 250" tournament, even though last time Shelton was here he suffered a disappointing semi-final loss to Taro Daniel. It was part of a 2024 season where the big serving Atlanta native's career flattened out a bit after his meteoric rise, that included a US Open semi-final in 2023.
"I didn't have any of the big results I was hoping for," Shelton admitted, his only tournament win last year being the Houston Open.
"I want to do bigger things than that, but in terms of being solid week in, week out, I saw big improvements. I'm in a great place to accomplish the goals I want to. I'm a lot more comfortable with my game, I know how to use my practices to get my best tennis.
"Going into year three, I'm not really a rookie anymore…now I feel like I'm prepared for anything."
American tennis player Ben Shelton. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Shelton currently has a world ranking of 21, good enough to be top seed at the ASB Classic. He explained that making that final push to be really challenging for Grand Slam contention involved making constant adjustments to his game.
"There's new guys coming in all the time, if you don't put in the work, they're going to take your spot. That's my goal this year, to keep working hard and keep improving.
"One area I've started to see real improvement is my return of serve and break percentage. That's something that's got to evolve if I want to be playing for titles on this tour."
Still, it's not so much about wiping the page and starting again. Shelton's biggest weapon is his serve - he was clocked at 240 km/h last year in Auckland - and he said that making sure that stayed as potent as possible was a key priority.
Ben Shelton of USA serves during his semi final match against Taro Daniel of Japan. Photo: Hannah Peters
"A big thing on this tour is knowing what your strengths are and sticking to them. If you dwell too much on things you aren't good at, you can't maximise your strengths. That's why you see so many guys on tour at the top, they're not complete, not every shot is perfect. But what their strengths are, they maximise, they do that better than anyone else in the world. And that's why they're at the top."
Shelton's career comes at the cusp of a potentially big era for the American men's game. Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe sit above him in the rankings, with Sebastian Korda just below. It's the highest representation in the top 25 of any country, and while Shelton's last year wasn't quite what he'd hoped, he said he's "definitely exceeded expectation for myself" when thinking back to when he first turned pro.
"I definitely didn't think I'd be in this position a couple of years ago (when) I was at college. Now I feel like an established pro, (but) I haven't scratched the surface when it comes to playing my best tennis."
Shelton plays Czechia's Jakub Menšík tonight at 6:30pm.
