Ben Shelton Makes ‘Never Seen Anything’ Admission About Jannik Sinner After Wimbledon Exit

Ben Shelton has now lost four of his last five Grand Slam matches to either Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz. This season, Sinner knocked him out in the semifinal of the Australian Open, followed by his defeat to Alcaraz in the French Open fourth round.

And now at Wimbledon, it was Sinner again who ended his run with a straight-set win in the quarterfinals. At the press conference after his defeat, Shelton said losing to these two players was “frustrating” and revealed what is the most difficult thing about playing Sinner.

With Sinner who I’ve played the most, his ball speed is really high. I’ve never seen anything like it. You don’t see anything like it when you’re going through the draw. When you play him it’s almost like things are in two times speed. I’m usually pretty good at adjusting to that speed. It’s difficult when a guy is hitting the ball that big, that consistently off both wings and serving the way he is.

Sinner has improved his head-to-head record over Shelton to 6-1, registering his sixth consecutive win against the American ace. The lone victory that the World No.10 registered was in their first encounter in the fourth round of the 2023 Shanghai Masters.

Shelton has once again ended another tournament without winning a title. He has not yet lifted a title since his victory over compatriot Frances Tiafoe in the 2024 U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships final.

Shelton also has not yet lifted a Big Title in his career. This year, he came close to winning the BMW Open but couldn’t cross the final hurdle in the form of home favorite Alexander Zverev.

Jannik Sinner convinced himself to play the quarterfinal against Ben Shelton

Jannik Sinner slipped near the baseline during the very first game of the first set of Wimbledon’s fourth-round match he was playing against Grigor Dimitrov, injuring his elbow. In that match, Sinner received a walkover from the Bulgarian ace because the latter damaged his pectoral muscle during the third set after leading the match 2-0.