© Getty Images Sport – Clive Brunskill
Coach Darren Cahill compared Ben Shelton to Nick Kyrgios as the former Andre Agassi coach thinks the 20-year-old American has the game and personality that just draws attention. Shelton, who turned pro in 2022 August, made his first Grand Slam semifinal at this past US Open.
En route to reaching the US Open semifinal, Shelton “hung up the phone” several times on his opponents. But after losing to Novak Djokovic, Shelton got the taste of his own medicine as the Serb pulled the “hanging up the phone” celebration on him.
“He’s like Kyrgios, you like Kyrgios, you hate him, I don’t care. On the tour, he brings something different and people will go out and buy a ticket, and watch these guys play. And Ben brings a real joy in what he’s doing on the court, he’s not scared, he doesn’t care who he is playing.
I love him, I think the fact that Novak took him up a little bit (for his celebrations) was awesome. You can’t have robots on tour, you can’t have no-personality’s on tour,” Cahill said on the Advantage Connors podcast.
Cahill thinks very highly of rising star Shelton
Even before this year’s US Open, Shelton was regarded as one of the most promising and talented players in the game.
Now, many are certain that Shelton is destined to do great things in tennis. Also, Shelton broke into the top-20 for the first time in his career and he is now enjoying a career-high ranking of No 19 in the world. “Incredibly brave in the big moments, he was certainly playing to the crowd, enjoying the crowd.
Again, you need to put those results week after week to be a factor in the top 10. I think Ben is so young, maybe he’s not used to it, maybe a little bit too many expectations came onto his shoulders after the Australian Open.
Now we’re going to see Ben consistently improve every week. I’m not saying he’s gonna race into the top 5, I think eventually he’s a definite top 10 player,” Cahill said.
