Ben Shelton Turning Pro – Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With four ATP tournaments under his belt, and already a couple runner-up finishes as an amateur, University of Florida junior tennis standout Ben Shelton was pretty fired up when he got a wild-card invite to play in the Western & Southern Open last week in Cincinnati. The event was to serve as the last tune-up before the U.S. Open and thus featured a loaded draw, including eight of the top 10-ranked players in the world. 

“I wasn’t even sure I’d get the opportunity to play there, so it was pretty surreal,” said Shelton, the 2022 the NCAA men’s singles championship. “I went there just knowing I was going to enjoy the moment and that I was playing with house money.” 

Then Shelton won his first-round match against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, the world’s No. 56-ranked player and advanced to the Round of 32 to face Norway’s Casper Ruud, just two months removed from his runner-up finish to Rafael Nadal in the French Open and had climbed to No. 5 in the world. 

Shelton, just 19, waxed Ruud in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, without as much as facing a break point, and instantly caught the attention of the international tennis community. 

House money, eh? 

No, it wasn’t the mega-upset of Ruud that led to the announcement Tuesday that Shelton, the Gators’ rising superstar, was foregoing his final two years of collegiate eligibility and turning pro. Consider that outcome, though, validation that Shelton is ready for the next challenge.

He began the summer ranked No. 547 in the world. This week, he checked in at No. 171.

“My decision wasn’t a results-based thing and never was going to be,” said Shelton, believed to be the first UF amateur (male or female) to knock off a top-10 player in the world. “It was always going to be based on where I am as a player and a person. At this point, for me and my family, I think this is the best thing for me to do to push my tennis forward and keep me on the right track as far as where I want to go and what I want to do.” 

 

Lotta love for the Gators🐊🙌🏽 pic.twitter.com/ZVdbW6lGmp

— Ben Shelton (@benshelton1009) August 23, 2022

The patriarch of that family, of course, is Bryan Shelton, the Florida head coach who the past three years has watched his son graduate from high school a year early, win the clinching point as a freshman that gave the UF program its first team national championship in men’s tennis, ascend to the top of the collegiate ranks in singles as a sophomore, then cap the ’22…