'That's one of the things that I love about him': Ben Shelton shares why he is ‘prepared for war’ with Alex de Minaur

America’s Ben Shelton is going through a good phase. The 22-year-old is currently taking part in the ongoing Canadian Open, where he cemented his spot in the quarterfinal after beating Italy’s Flavio Cobolli with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 7-6.

It will be Shelton’s third consecutive quarterfinal appearance in the last three competitions. He lost in the last eight of Wimbledon to world number one Jannik Sinner in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-4, 6-4. At the DC Open, Shelton defeated fellow American Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinal in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-4.

During his recent win against Cobolli, there was a heated exchange of words at the end, which left Shelton all fired up. In the next round, Shelton will face Australia’s Alex de Minaur. The 26-year-old defeated Tiafoe in the round of 16 with a score of 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two players in professional tennis. Ahead of the contest, Shelton spoke to the media and stated that he is all set for a ‘war’.

"Yeah, he [De Minaur] 's a dawg,” said Shelton. “I'm ready for it. And for people who haven't heard that saying, that's a good thing. He's very fast. He's in a great rhythm, you saw what he did in DC. He's a great front runner, and you can never count him out when he's down. So I'm prepared for a war. I'm really excited. It's our first matchup. We've had some practice, some competitive practice sets. He puts it on the line in practice as well, that's one of the things that I love about him. Yeah, I'm really excited."

Tough test for Shelton

Shelton will have a tough test in store in the face of an in-form De Minaur, who came into the contest after winning the DC Open, where he defeated Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. In that contest, De Minaur saved three championship points in the third set and eventually went on to win the match with a score of 5-7, 6-1, 7-6. Before starting his American tour, De Minaur spoke to ATPTour.com, where he highlighted that he believes he is reaching his peak and remained optimistic about having deeper runs in major competitions.

“I’ve got the experience now. I’ve got the knowledge, the physicality side of things. Everything is just there for me to go out and perform,” said De Minaur back then. “I can really have a swing these next three or four years and really show that I’m at my peak and break through some barriers. I’m ready to go deep into tournaments. It’s just up to myself to put those results right. It was somewhat difficult at the start of the year and mentally taxing knowing that I had zeros on my ranking because I missed three Masters (Montreal, Cincinnati, and Shanghai).”

Just like Shelton, De Minaur did not have a great run while playing at Wimbledon, where he was knocked out after losing in the round of 16 to the former world number one Novak Djokovic with a score of 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. In the same interview with the ATP’s official website, De Minaur spoke at length about where he went wrong in that contest. De Minaur also highlighted that moving forward, his objective is to win such matches against opponents who are competing for big titles. “I felt like I had my chances,” said De Minaur. “We should have been in a fifth set. It slipped away pretty quickly, but those are the matches I need to start winning. I’ve identified a few areas to work on with my team, and hopefully that helps me take the next step.”