Ben Shelton was a top-four seed at a Grand Slam for the first time in his career and was on the opposite half of the Wimbledon draw from both Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.
But any designs of a deep run at the All-England Club went on the window right away. Shelton lost in the first round on Tuesday afternoon, falling to qualifier Otto Virtanen 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(8), 6-2, 7-6(11-9) after four hours and 21 minutes. The 23-year-old American had a match point at 9-8 in the fifth-set tiebreaker and had a 15-40 opportunity to break serve midway through the decider, but he could not capitalize.
“(It’s) one of the toughest losses I’ve taken, for sure,” Shelton said during his post-match press conference. “I feel like it was an uphill battle all day today. I was pretty off on my serve spot, so I wasn’t getting many free points. I was having to grind through a lot of the games. [Virtanen] was playing really good and downhill from the baseline. I think I had 15-40 three separate times in the fifth set. The guy came up with some ridiculous stuff in those moments — really good tennis. Sometimes it happens like that.”
Stan Wawrinka also lost a close one on Tuesday, and for him it marked his final Wimbledon match.
Wawrinka battled Matteo Berrettini through four tiebreakers in the nightcap on Court 1, with Berrettini ultimately prevailing 6-7(7), 7-6(16), 7-6(7), 7-6(5) in four hours and 19 minutes. The 41-year-old Swiss had six set points in their wild second-set ‘breaker that would have given him a two-set advantage.
“It was a great match; great atmosphere,” Wawrinka assured. “Amazing. (I’m) super grateful to receive the wild card for having the chance to play tonight. It was really special to be back on Court 1 against Matteo. He’s a great friend and amazing player. Yeah, (it) was good, really good match.”
The three-time Grand Slam champion is retiring at the end of the season. Gstaad is on his schedule late this summer before he presumably takes the court at the U.S. Open and at the Swiss Indoors Basel.
nice one, Otto
You need 2 wings to fly and Shelton is one of the worst returners in the World, no wonder he can’t even win a set against the Sinner. Hard to believe he is seeded #4 with such horrible return numbers.He rarely breaks serve. Playing someone nobody knew before today he still broke only once in 5 long sets. That was one bad performance from Shelton.
Yeah.I cant believe some had him in the final including me. Most of his grass court matches have been struggles
Just like Zverev, and Fritz has a tough draw .
not after Drape exited
Well we didnt know that at the start .
And if you look at Fritz-Zverev matches, a lot of them were close enough…Taylor had potentially five setters against Draper,Tiafoe and Zverev before he met Shelton .
Nice win for Berretini, sad we’ve seen the last of Stan with that beautiful backhand, at his best, he was one of the rare players with a game that troubled Djokovic
Appropriate to lose to another single hander
Yes, hope Berretini goes deep
Cant see it , too inconsistent,love to be wrong
Nice one Ricky, you had him in the final, you really like eating crow.