American Tennis Star Ben Shelton’s Home Tournament Faces Huge Blow as ATP’s Absurd Revamp Crushes Its Hopes

Ben Shelton has been a star to watch out for this year. At just 21, he’s already creating big waves on the tennis circuit with some amazing displays. While he reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open earlier this year, Shelton made it to the semifinals of his home Grand Slam tournament, the US Open. However, after his win in Tokyo last month, Shelton hasn’t had the best times on the court. And the recent announcement by the ATP will further sadden Shelton.

The 21-year-old has had a couple of first-round exits in his last two tournaments. It has come as a massive shock to his fans, given that he was in prime form. Here’s what happened related to Ben Shelton that will upset him.

ATP’s decision a big blow to Ben Shelton

Earlier today, the ATP revamped the existing tennis structure. As a result, some old and iconic tournaments will retire next year, meaning that from 2025, these tournaments won’t be played. Amongst these is Shelton’s home tournament, the ATP 250 Atlanta Open.

As soon as the ATP announced this decision, the tournament’s official Twitter handle explained the situation. The July 2024 Atlanta Open will be the final iteration of the tournament. In 2025, the ATP will retire the Atlanta Open and five other 250-level sanctions. Talking about this, its tournament director said, “We’re thankful for the wonderful memories we’ve made in Atlanta and are working to return in some capacity and bring professional tennis back to this great city.”

Despite being his home tournament, Ben Shelton hasn’t had the best of times at the Atlanta Open. Additionally, he faced the wrath of his fans as he performed poorly at the tournament this year.

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Ben Shelton faced criticism for his performance

In this year’s edition of the Atlanta Open, Ben Shelton suffered a shock defeat in the opening round of the tournament. He went down against the lower-ranked Chinese opponent, Shang Juncheng, in straight sets.

As a result, some fans went wild on social media, slamming Shelton’s poor performance in his home tournament. While some fans called him overrated, others wanted Shelton to analyze his defeat and come back stronger.

With the 2023 season nearing its end, Ben Shelton will look to make a strong return next year. Since 2024 will see the Atlanta Open for one last time, It’ll be interesting to see how Shelton performs.

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