‘Ben Shelton Found That Out the Hard Way’ – American Hotshot Receives a Wake-Up Call Following Australian Open Humbling

Tennis stalwarts Bradley Klahn and Mitch Michals took a surprising dig at America’s rising star in tennis, Ben Shelton. The 21-year-old surprised the tennis fraternity by scoring amazing serving records in his matches. While fans think Ben Shelton shows signs of being a great tennis player in the future, Klahn and Michals have something else to say about this American tennis prodigy.

Ben Shelton’s serves are undoubtedly very powerful, however, serves aren’t the only thing that needs to be good to win big matches. Presenting this idea, Michals and Klahn analyzed the young tennis star.

Mitch Michals joins Bradley Klahn to criticize Ben Shelton’s performance amid his serving records

In a recent podcast, Bradley Klahn took a dig at Shelton’s serving record and his current performance. He commented-“Another guy for me, is Adrian Mannarino, who broke into the top 20 for the first time, he’s 35 I believe. Another guy that is very tricky to play. Because every ball is down below your knees. And it’s hard to play that style of tennis that looks very good on TV, both guys wailing from corner to corner on the ball moving incredibly. There’s a little bit more of a chess match with them.” 

Given that Shelton lost to Adrian Mannarino at the Australian Open 2024, Klahn’s comment seemed more realistic. Taking Klahn’s side, another bigwig of tennis, Mitch Michals said, “Ben Shelton found that out the hard way that it wasn’t about how hard you hit it and how hard you can serve. There’s a chess match.” 

Both Klahn and Michals’s comments express that, despite his serving record, Shelton needs to improvise on his overall performance. He needs to focus on strategic moves more than trying to establish himself as a player who can serve powerfully.

Read more: Ben Shelton Turns Introspective as He Voices the ‘Biggest Lessons’ Learned on the Grueling ATP Tour

Patrick Mouratoglou revisited Shelton’s incredible serving style

America’s rising tennis star made an unbelievable record by scoring a serve of 149mph in the US Open. After his ATP tour last year, famous coach Mouratoglou revisited his performance. He said, “First serve at almost 240 km/h. You’ve seen that at the US Open with Ben Shelton. But Ben’s serve is more than only speed. Let’s look at this technique together.”

He continued, “First, he’s lefty, his slice moves the other way compared to what the players are used to. Second, his motion is very compact. He’s lifting his elbow straight away at the level of his shoulders, so extremely simple. Now, what is unusual is his loading. Look at how early he bends his legs and look at how much he bends them. He doesn’t stay too long on his legs bent, which is great because when you are too long on your legs bent, very difficult to push up.”

According to Bradley Klahn and Mitch Michals, this young American tennis prodigy surely needs more improvisation. What is your opinion about Ben Shelton’s recent performances?

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