US Open revamps mixed doubles format, adds $1 million prize to incentivize "biggest names in the sport"

The most experienced player in the mens’s draw vs. one of the least experienced. A 36-year-old who has won 23 Grand Slam titles dating back to 2008 vs. a 20-year-old who played his first major at the Open just 12 months ago.

“Definitely a tough challenge,” the younger player admits.

But Ben Shelton also sees some pluses and minuses in meeting Novak Djokovic for the first time at this stage. The downside is that Shelton knows who Djokovic is; the upside is that Djokovic doesn’t know who Shelton is.

“Whenever you play somebody for the first time and someone who has been in this situation so many times and come out victorious so many times, that’s in the back of your head,” the American said. “You just know how rock solid the guy is and how mentally tough, how physically tough.”

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Shelton has rode a mix of youthful exuberance and audacious shotmaking into his first major semifinal; will it be enough to challenge Djokovic?

On the other hand:

“I also think it’s an advantage with my game style playing someone who’s never played me before,” Shelton continued. “I think that I can bring some things to the table that maybe you don’t see in your normal match on the ATP Tour.”

“So I’m definitely going to try to bring some things to the table that are different and hopefully disruptive on Friday.”

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What might those things be? Shelton disrupted his last opponent, Frances Tiafoe, by changing speeds on his ground strokes, hitting topspin rally balls before throwing in a flat bomb that Tiafoe would struggle to handle. He did the same with his serve, using a kicker on one first serve, before amping it up to 140 on the next point. Shelton’s raw power gives him more options for changing pace than most players.

But if Shelton has a killer serve, Djokovic has a killer a return, and he’ll surely force Shelton to hit more balls than Tiafoe did. Shelton isn’t always as consistent as he was in his quarterfinal.

The bottom line is that there’s no way to pick against Djokovic in a match like this. But at least if Shelton does lose, he should lose in a more exciting way than most of the Serb’s opponents. Winner: Djokovic

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