Curb your enthusiasm! Why Shelton says fun can wait

Facing a friend can often bring moments of levity, but Ben Shelton knows that enjoyment must wait until the job is done.

The 22-year-old American confirmed his return to the Australian Open quarter-finals on Monday after good friend and ATP Tour veteran Gael Monfils was forced to retire through injury. Although he led by two sets to one when the Frenchman’s back issues flared up, Shelton remained fully aware of the need to stay locked in until the very end.

“You try not to enjoy it until after,” Shelton said in his post-match press conference. “Obviously you're going to have some moments of smiles and laugh. He holds up his hand when he hits an unbelievable shot, but you know he's not sorry.

“It's something that you enjoy, but you try to suppress that while you're playing to stay focused. He's a guy that when you start getting into that and you're smiling the whole match. Then, ‘Oh wow, I'm down two sets? It’s blown by me’. So he's definitely a guy you've got to stay locked in.”

♥️#AO2025 pic.twitter.com/VIavuryPik

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 20, 2025

The 38-year-old Monfils was heading into his fourth-round clash with Shelton on an eight-match win streak. During his run, he became the oldest man since 1977 to win an ATP Tour title in Auckland, and upset No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings Taylor Fritz in the second round in Melbourne. Yet although the physical demands began to hinder Monfils, who ultimately could not continue, Shelton is aware of a certain tactic deployed by the Frenchman to keep his opponents guessing.

“He clearly was not fully 100 per cent today and towards the end of the match really gassed,” Shelton said. “But sometimes he looks real tired and you could be serving to him and he's got his hands on his knees and then you serve a bomb out wide and he's reflexed it and he's in the corner and passing you. You're like ‘Ahh, I fell in the trap’.

“It's a tough kind of tricky back-and-forth. Obviously that's his way of dealing with being tired on a court. But he plays it up sometimes, and I think that he's got more in the tank than he shows at times. Obviously that wasn't the case towards the end of the match today, it was real, but I think that's one of the things that he does the best on court that makes it tricky.”

Although it was the first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between the two, Shelton has always looked up to Monfils and the two share a healthy camaraderie in the locker room. When asked if he envisions a career as long as the Frenchman’s, Shelton gave insight into their relationship through an anecdote.

“Gael has given me a few pep talks over the last few years,” Shelton said. “At certain times whether I was playing great, or maybe it was that 2023 run where I lost a lot of matches in a row.

“He said to me [that] it was important for him in his career that he found the places that he loved to play, and he focused on those weeks and doing really well in those weeks and knowing there are places that he doesn't love to play and not stressing as much. That's the way that he's been able to keep the love for the sport, and you are seeing this. He's still entertaining crowds at 38 years old, which is remarkable.

“Obviously he's done it in a way where he can still love it and enjoy it. It's long seasons. It's certainly an easy sport to get burnt out. Individual sport, it's not like you have a team who can pick up the slack if you're a vet and you can play less minutes. No, you've got to be out there for every point.”

Shelton has fond memories at the Australian Open, notably reaching the quarter-finals on his debut in 2023. If he can seal his last-four spot on Wednesday against Lorenzo Sonego, the American will return to his career high of No. 13 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.