While becoming the youngest male American to reach the U.S. Open Semifinal since Michael Chang back in 1992 and captivating the crowd with a 149 mph serve, Ben Shelton, the 20-year-old American tennis phenom could not do what so many others had failed to do over the years. That is, defeat Novak Djokovic, widely considered the greatest tennis player of all time with 23 Grand Slam titles.
Shelton’s quest to bring American men’s tennis its first Grand Slam in 20 years fell short in the end as experience outweighed youthful firepower. The No. 2-ranked Djokovic defeated Shelton 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 to advance to the final.
From the get-go, Shelton was never able to really find rhythm until breaking Djokovic’s serve in the final set and hitting forehands like the one below.
On the other hand, Djokovic, perhaps the greatest defensive tennis player of all time, was able to neutralize Shelton’s powerful serve, breaking his opponent five times and perhaps playing one of the cleanest matches of his 2023 U.S. Open run.
Although Shelton’s tournament is over, the American embarked on a memorable Cinderella run the past two weeks, after having not won consecutive matches since falling to American Tommy Paul in the Quarterfinals of the 2023 Australian Open.
Shelton has not only made a name for himself in the last two weeks but has also jumped to World No. 19 in the live rankings. This is certainly not the last we will see of the 20-year-old.
But for now, the show goes on for Djokovic, who will look to win his 24th Grand Slam. He will face the winner of Daniil Medvedev versus Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday in the men’s 2023 U.S. Open final.