ATP Tour

Boil before toil: Shelton's new hot-tub tactic

Ben Shelton grew up in the warm climates of Atlanta and Gainesville in the United States, but even he needs to reacquaint himself with the North American weather after his travels around the world on the ATP Tour. After a European swing that included a clay-court final run in Hamburg and a grass-court quarter-final showing at Wimbledon, Shelton made his return to the hard courts of his home nation Tuesday at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.

Following a routine 6-3, 6-4 victory against Mackenzie McDonald, Shelton shared a new off-court routine that has helped him prepare for the Washington conditions.

"The heat is a huge thing for me. While I'm in Florida, I'm trying to get acclimatised as quickly as possible," he explained. "I only had a week so, you know, I was getting in the hot tub up to my neck for 15 minutes at a time, doing sessions like that. Unless I have a sauna, then sauna sessions as well, really important.

"But to be able to get used to being in the heat and kind of go over the top so it doesn't feel so hot on the court... Obviously on a 95-degree [Fahrenheit] day on a hard court, it feels like 115 or 120. So there's a lot of things that go into playing on the hard courts and being ready to play, on top of just your tennis game. That's what makes the U.S. summer a challenge."

This is the first year the former Florida Gator has tried this hot-tub tactic, an idea that was born out of necessity during his training block in his home state.

"Sometimes it rains in Florida and you have to hit indoors... When you have a short amount of time, you've got to try to figure it out, try to improvise," Shelton shared. "Me and my team were like, 'OK, I don't have a sauna in the complex that I live in, and we're not getting that heat on the court.' So we found a way."

While Shelton needed only 75 minutes for an opening-round win in relatively cool and dry conditions, his preparation could come in handy if he makes a deep run at the Washington ATP 500, where temperatures are expected to hit 95 degrees later in the tournament.

The heat is not the only change for Shelton this week; he's also adjusting to his native hard courts after spending months on the softer clay and grass courts of Europe.

"It's getting used to the harder contact on the ground," he said of the switch. "You get used to playing on soft surfaces in the European swing, whether it's the clay courts where it's easy to slide on, or the grass courts. Obviously in grass it's a different beast.

"Playing here on the hard courts, it's a lot harder on the legs for sure."

Shelton's rally tolerance — and heat tolerance — will be tested again Thursday when he takes on Gabriel Diallo for a spot in the quarter-finals. In order to win his first title of the season in D.C., he will need to win four matches in as many days beginning with the last-16 matchup.

As he continues to adjust to the hotter temperatures, he'll hope to bring some heat of his own with his big game.