Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe rolled the dice and skipped the Paris Olympics. While Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz are representing the United States, Shelton and Tiafoe have chosen hard-court events instead of the Paris clay. However, recently, Serena Williams’ former coach, Rick Macci, came forward to reveal what could have been the reason behind their absence in an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports.

For many, the Olympics don’t quite stand on the same level as the Grand Slams. So while many players participated in the French Open and then Wimbledon, the next step was to get ready for the US swing. Instead of switching surfaces again for Roland Garros, many like Shelton, Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda have opted to skip the quadrennial event in sports. And Macci believes one reason also might have been that they didn’t get selected.

Recently, the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s childhood coach sat down with EssentiallySports to discuss Shelton and Tiafoe not qualifying to play in singles, doubles or even mixed doubles. Macci stated, “That’s a choice; they’re both playing in Atlanta this weekend; Shelton, he lost first-round; Tiafoe, I think still alive. It’s a choice, you know, that people make; maybe they think, they’ll have other opportunities to play.”

Further, he added, “I’m not sure, but at the end of the day, it’s as even though it’s like you’re selected on a team to play, I don’t think they were selected to play. I don’t think anybody can just play, you know, what I mean, they weren’t selected.”

Shelton has stated that he will skip the Olympics this year in favor of the hard-court competitions in North America. The global No. 16 player would rather concentrate on the forthcoming competitions and is eager to commit to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

“Our season is really long. See a lot of people getting injured at this time of year, a lot of guys pulling out of the Olympics. They went and tried to play but weren’t ready,” Shelton said. “Obviously I would love to play for my country in the future. It’s a bucket list thing for me. I’m going to try to hard to qualify for L.A. in 2028.”

Meanwhile for Frances Tiafoe, it’s “brutal” watching his teammates in Paris without him.

Frances Tiafoe is crushed at missing out on Paris

While Shelton is out of Atlanta, Frances Tiafoe is going strong at the Citi Open. While his reasons were much the same for skipping the Olympics, he does have a bit of regret. When asked if it was hard to see his teammates in Paris, he told the media, “Yeah, brutal, brutal, brutal, yeah. It’s tough. More tough just like seeing everybody on the boat and stuff like that. That was a tough day. I had to play later that day in Atlanta. I’m like, Yeah, I’m turning off every TV and social media. That would have been a cool experience.”

However, when the next Olympics roll around in his home country, he’ll certainly be found there! “I’m young. I plan to be in L.A. I also had to look at my body. Still trying to get my knee 100%. To go grass, clay, hard court again, I don’t think that would have been the smartest thing for me.”

While the Olympics coverage of tennis in America isn’t much to boast about, the country’s cohort is doing well so far at the Games. Who knows? We might see American domination by 2028!

Nevertheless, what are your thoughts on Shelton and Tiafoe’s absence? Do let us know in the comment section below.