“I’m improving for sure” – Shelton getting to grips with clay-court tennis
The American spoke to Tennis Majors from UTS Nimes, where he is gearing up to compete this weekend
Ben Shelton, UTS Nimes, 2025
Ben Shelton believes that this year could be the season in which he finally cracks clay-court tennis.
Having reached the semi-finals of both the hard court Grand Slams in Australia (2025) and New York (2024), the American is setting his sights on replicating his early-career dynamism on the clay courts of Europe.
“It’s something I’m learning and getting better and better at,” Shelton told Tennis Majors ahead of the upcoming UTS Nimes event this weekend.
Typically, American men tend to struggle more on this surface as it is a relatively alien experience compared with the hard courts that are prevalent in the US.
But Shelton has already seen signs of his own potential on the surface.
“It’s funny because my only title last year was actually on red clay,” he continued, in reference to Houston.
“So I’m improving for sure. I’m feeling more and more comfortable with the movement and the game style, and, I’d like to see myself have some big results on the clay this year, cause I think I’m playing well enough on it and in a good enough place mentally and physically to do some damage.
“For me, it’s about learning something new, something that you’re not supposed to be good at, or something that you’re not as comfortable with, obviously I’ve played on hard court all my life, and clay and grass is something new for me, something new to try to learn, I feel like I’m doing a good job.
“So I do have a lot of fun figuring out the challenge and making adjustments in in the weeks and every year.”
After UTS Nimes, the American will turn his attention to the first clay-court Masters 1000 event of the year, which gets underway in Monte-Carlo next week.
