Big serve, big smile, big win: Ben Shelton beats Tommy Paul for US Open quarterfinal

Might the smile be the new big weapon in contemporary pro tennis? It’s certainly aided Carlos Alcaraz’s run to the top.

Sunday at the US Open, Ben Shelton also smiled many times—and gave the fans inside Arthur Ashe Stadium plenty of good reasons to feel happy about what they’d witnessed and what they hope to see more of in the years to come from this passionate 20-year-old.

In a lively round of 16 match that lasted two hours and 49 minutes, Shelton took the measure of his fellow American, 14th-seeded Tommy Paul, to earn a 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory. Having begun 2023 with a run to the last eight at the Australian Open, the 47th-ranked Shelton has now bookended his Grand Slam campaigns nicely. That’s a darn good feat on any terms, but even more impressive when you consider that Shelton hadn’t won two straight matches since Melbourne. Said Shelton, “I think that the more that I slowed things down, you know, changed up speeds and just kind of stayed calm and confident in my game style and didn't try to extend myself outside of what I have, I think that was the biggest part for me to get over the line.”

In the only prior match between these two, Paul had beaten Shelton in Australia. That one too had gone four sets. Like Shelton today, Paul won the first two sets, lost the third, and closed it out in four. As matters began today, the 26-year-old Paul’s dominance continued. He handily won the first three games. With Shelton serving at 0-3, 30-40, Paul raced in for what appeared to be an easy forehand passing shot—and hit the ball well long. Said Paul, “those kind of points are much bigger than they look.” Three more times Paul held break points for a 4-0 lead. Shelton fought off all of them. Soon enough, everything turned his way.

Physical as tennis always is, strong and fit as Paul and Shelton are, each man’s eclectic playing style also inspires a rare comparison to art. Per the directive of his coach, Brad Stine, avatar is Pablo Picasso. At his best, Paul can patrol the backcourt, charge the net proficiently, create openings one didn’t think were possible. But today, the lefthanded Shelton was akin to another great lefty artist, Leonardo da Vinci. Showing tremendous speed in rallies, as well as agility, feel and flair at the net and fantastic serving, Shelton soon began to smother Paul.

With Paul serving in the opener at 4-all, 30-30, Shelton threw up a defensive lob. Staring from the north side of the court right into the sun, Paul struck the overhead wide. At 30-40, Shelton emerged the winner of a cat-and-mouse exchange at the net. Said Paul, “He came to the net and, I mean, he volleyed really well. I thought that was one of the main differences in the match that changed stuff his way.” Overall, Shelton was 28 of 42 at the net, a statistic notable as much for its frequency as proficiency. At last in the lead, Shelton played the 5-4 game perfectly, including two aces from 30-love.

Much as Paul sought to scratch his way back in the second set, so much of the positive energy remained in Shelton’s corner. Talking to his team, Shelton said, “He’s pressed right now. Brad’s telling him the wrong spots on the serve, I can tell.” Was that necessarily true? It didn’t matter. What mattered was that Shelton was fully relishing the battle; a rare case also of a man seamlessly making his way from the world of college tennis (where mid-match coaching has always been permitted) to its now-legal presence in the pro game. “Yeah, I think it's really important that your team around you, the people in your box aren't panicking,” said Shelton. “When I saw that they were calm and they thought I was doing things the right way and I was playing well and ready to keep going, I took a lot of confidence from that.”

Once again, in the crucial stage of a set, Paul blinked. Serving at 3-3, 30-30, he double-faulted. On the break point, Paul controlled most of the rally, but backed off charging the net when presented with potential opportunities and in time netted a forehand. Serving at 4-3, 30-30, Shelton closed out the game with two aces, then, surprisingly, broke a seemingly demoralized Paul at 15 to take a two sets to love lead.

Paul remained lackluster early in the third. He double-faulted at 1-2, 30-40. And then, as if to punctuate the contrast between the two, Shelton played a service game for ages. It opened with an ace down the T, hit at 141 MPH. Next, another smack through the middle, this one at 149—the fastest of this year’s tournament. At 30-love, a garden variety 130 MPH service winner, the game next capped with another 149 ace. Ahead two sets and 4-1, Shelton appeared only a few minutes away from victory.

Two rounds earlier, Paul had rallied from two sets to love down to beat Roman Safiullin. Here too, he dug in, everything from Paul’s movement to intensity rising just enough to elicit errors. Paul won the third but was unable to convert a break point in the opening game of the fourth. That near-predicament appeared to jolt Shelton back into focus. From then on, Shelton lost just three points on his serve. “This one’s mine!” he yelled to his box. Serving at 4-5, 30-30, Paul hit two straight long forehands.

Addressing his tennis education over the course of this year, Shelton after the match told courtside interviewer Mary Joe Fernandez, “I really learned how to be mentally tough. You know, when I was playing in Australia after a long week, I was looking at my box, saying, ‘My legs are dead. I'm tired. I can’t go anymore,’” Shelton said. “I realized how important it is for me to believe in myself, believe that I can go all the way, the full distance, emotionally and physically, and now I have that belief here.”

True as all that is for Shelton, it’s his energy most of all that’s so quickly made him a must-watch player and a massive fan favorite. As another American, philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, said, “Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object.” Two Slam quarterfinals in his first year on the tour marks only the start of Shelton’s happy pro tennis journey. May he never grow jaded.