“I’m in a lot of pain…but I’m loving it” – Ben Shelton makes it through tough Tiafoe test to set date with Djokovic

Ben Shelton celebrated his US Open quarter-final win by signalling that he is dialled in. His four-set win over his friend and compatriot Frances Tiafoe showed just how far he has come in terms of Grand Slam tennis, making it through an intense match in challenging humid conditions to reach a maiden Slam semi-final.

“I think tonight was a real physical battle,” he told journalists afterwards. “That was the true test. You know, you have Frances Tiafoe on the other side of the court and you have the weather that you had in there. You know, it was pretty muggy, pretty hot. 75% of the match I think both of us were finishing points fairly tired, trying to catch our breath.

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“End of that third set is when I really had to dig deep. I had a set point at 6-5, went up to the line with heavy legs and ended up double-faulting two times in a row. Got a little bit lucky with the slap shot to get back in control of the breaker. And then I was just tough the last two points.

“That was the key for me tonight. Just being tough and being relentless, and knowing that I could go the distance physically no matter how bad it hurt. That was just kind of what I was sticking with.”

Shelton: This is the greatest moment of my life

He added: “I’m definitely feeling joy at times during the match. I’d say a lot.

“When I look over at my box and see my friends and family over there, I get some smiles out of them or funny signals, I enjoy that. I really enjoy the interaction with people when I’m on the court.

“I also enjoy the tennis. It’s tough. I’m thinking to myself as I’m walking to get my towel in the fourth set, and it’s, like, this is the greatest moment on the tennis court of my life, and I’m in a lot of pain, you know, physically! But I’m loving it. That was just kind of the story of today.”

Shelton: You know how rock-solid Djokovic is

Shelton now faces his first-ever encounter with Novak Djokovic for a place in the final.

“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. You just know how rock solid the guy is and how mentally tough, how physically tough. So that’s definitely something that I have to game-plan for.

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