MELBOURNE, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Ben Shelton said it was only a matter of time before he sharpens the final edges of his game, insisting he is closing in on the sport’s elite despite a straight-sets defeat by Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.
The American eighth seed was overpowered 6-3 6-4 6-4 by the two-times defending champion.
“I’m getting better and better and becoming a lot less limited,” the 23-year-old Shelton told reporters. “This game takes time, and the results don’t always come when you want them.
“I’m getting to the point where I’m getting stopped by the toughest challenge in the game, for the most part, and I do think I’m close to bringing it all together,” he added. “It’s just going to take that one time where I do it to get me over the hump. It’s always been that way for me.”
“I’m certainly not discouraged from a performance like this, but I want to see myself get out in front rather than falling behind. I know how I feel when I get out in front at Slams – I feel untouchable. I guarantee the other guys at the top feel the exact same. I’m not complete yet, but I feel myself becoming more complete.”
Shelton put the tennis world on notice when he reached the U.S. semi-finals at the age of 20, becoming the youngest American man to reach the last four at Flushing Meadows since Michael Chang in 1992.
His rise continued last season, winning his maiden Masters 1000 title in Canada and reaching a career-high world number five.
“It’s all about perspective, and I do have a great perspective for the most part,” he said. “I know how blessed and lucky I am.
“But I’m an addict – I’ve become more and more addicted to this game, figuring things out, chasing the guys ahead of me. That feeling of pressure you get on court at a Grand Slam – there’s no better feeling.
“Tonight I’m upset, 100%, with how it went. But I have a lot of belief in myself and confidence in the work I know will be continuous – and that I’ll continue to put in.”
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Ed Osmond)
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