Google News Ben Shelton makes surprise but honest confession on how he felt about tennis at first
by DZEVAD MESIC
Ben Shelton admits he did not like tennis very much when he first started playing the game but seeing his sister being able to travel to different locations and skip school motivated him to do well in tennis. World No. 17 Shelton comes from a tennis family as his father Bryan is a tennis coach - his mother was a top junior player - and his sister Emma also played college tennis. Shelton, who turned 21 in October, is now one of the most promising and talented players on the Tour, who is tipped by many to do great things for American men's tennis in the near future.
“When I started playing tennis, I didn’t like it that much," Shelton told On-Running.
When asked what motivated him to start taking tennis more seriously, Shelton very honestly answered.
"Honestly? I saw my sister – she was getting to play all these tournaments, traveling to all these different places. I was like, ‘Man, she can get out of school to play sports, travel, and stay in hotels," Shelton admitted.
Shelton has 'a growth mindset'
Shelton, who turned pro just before the 2022 US Open, made the Australian Open quarterfinal at the start of the season before making his first Slam semifinal at this year's US Open. Also, Shelton won his first ATP title in Tokyo this year and achieved a career-high ranking of No. 15 in the world.
“I'm trying to have a growth mindset. I’m competitive and I want to win but I have to remind myself that I'm nowhere near where I want to be with some things," Shelton said.
While Shelton has already established himself as one of the most electrifying and entertaining players to watch, he acknowledged that he is still very young and that there is still a lot of time to tune his style.
“Yeah, hopefully I have a long career ahead of me and time to fine-tune my style," Shelton said.