When American Ben Shelton arrived at the men’s ASB Classic earlier this year he was an unheralded wildcard, on his first trip overseas.
He was seen as a player on the rise - a teenager who had reached 98 in the world - but far from a centre-court draw.
How things have changed.
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Shelton will return in 2024 as a star attraction, having risen to world No. 17 following a spectacular year.
It started at the Australian Open when he became the youngest American in 40 years to reach the quarter-finals in Melbourne. The powerful left-hander also claimed his first ATP title at the Tokyo Open, beating world No. 12 Tommy Paul along the way.
Shelton’s most memorable period came at the US Open with a fairytale run to the last four beating compatriot Francis Tiafoe before he was stopped by Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
“I’ve definitely had an amazing run in this past year,” said Shelton. “It’s the learning experience that I’ve had on tour. Being able to learn from different players, different surfaces, different tournaments, it’s been a really cool experience for me that has helped me grow as a player and a person.”
A little over a year ago, the 1.93-metre Shelton was mainly confined to Challenger events. Now he is in the big time, after a rapid rise.
He is also much more accustomed to travel. Shelton had reached the top 100 without ever using his passport, thanks to success on the plethora of tournaments available in the United States.
So it was all new when he arrived in Auckland, wide-eyed and a long way from home. Since then, he has played in 15 different countries, as part of the travelling tennis circus.
“I learned a lot about trying to eat at the right time, to adjust to time changes, try to get to sleep and change my clock a few days before I travel to a new place,” said Shelton.
Coming to Auckland was an easy decision, given his positive initial impression. Not only did he enjoy the city but he also had success on the court, upsetting seventh seed and then-world No 43 Sebastian Baez to reach the second round.
“Auckland was my first win of the year on the ATP tour, so to be able to start things off the right way, in a city I really enjoyed being, it was really important to my success at the Australian Open and through the rest of the year,” said Shelton. “The city had a lot of great food, cool places to go, it felt small, just because we were in such a great area and there was so much to go see, right near the hotel.”
Shelton hopes to “venture out” more on this visit, with the aim to take a ferry to Waiheke or visit some black sand beaches. His confirmed participation next year is a coup for the event, showing the benefit of the proactive use of wildcards, as tournament director Nicolas Lamperin backed the right horse.
“He is the type of player that we target,” said Lamperin. “We saw him as a hugely promising teenager who would benefit from playing at our tournament, and that Auckland is a great place for a young player in his first time travelling outside of the USA.
“He impressed us all both on and off the court, and we knew that he had star qualities and he has already gone on to prove it.
Shelton joins 2023 runner-up Cameron Norrie, Canadian world No 22 Felix Auger-Aliassime and French prodigy Arthur Fils (38) in next year’s field, with more announcements expected in the coming weeks.
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
