[Tennis- ATP Wimbledon] 5.7/ 18:00 B.Shelton- D.Taro

[Radu]

[Tennis- ATP Wimbledon] 5.7/ 18:00 B.Shelton- D.Taro

Ben Shelton is one of the most exciting up-and-coming tennis players in the US. He's been on the tour for less than a year (having come on after winning the NCAA singles title at UF in 2022), and he really put himself on the map with a very impressive run to the quarterfinals in the Australian Open back in January. The young lefty has an enormous first serve, he moves well, and it feels like every couple weeks he hits some insane trick shot that you have to watch five times to believe it.

And yet ... it feels like he's getting an awful lot of respect for a guy who hasn't advanced past the second round of any Tour-level tournament he's played in since that AO run. He's extremely young, and new to the Tour, so he should continue to improve, but right now he just does not have the return game to hang with the kind of serves that most pros have. He's 6-14 since coming back from Australia, 4-13 at Tour-level events, and in that time he's only moved up from 42nd in the rankings to 36th despite having no points to defend. Also, in the context of Wimbledon, while his skill set should translate to the lawns well, he had never played on grass until two weeks ago, having since played in two tournaments in which he went 1-2.

The good news for him today: His opponent, Taro Daniel, really does not have a particularly strong serve, so Shelton's relative weakness there can be hidden and he should be able to pick up some breaks. I expect him to win this match. The less good news: Daniel has enough of a pulse on return that it won't be easy for Shelton to rack up points there, and if his first serve abandons him for any stretch (as it can), he will cough up a break here and there. Also, Daniel has at least some experience on grass (albeit not particularly good experience with a 6-11 record), and he knows the stage that comes with a major as this is his 23rd time playing in one.

This matchup screams "veteran who's overmatched on paper but has been here before and knows what to do on this stage gives the young gun who hasn't a bit of a hard time before the young guy pulls it together just in time to win the match".

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