Latest / Bleacher Report / Ben Shelton Previews Match vs. Alcaraz & Explains Why He Plays Better at Majors _ 2025 Roland-Garros

Transcript

Ben Shelton Previews Match vs. Alcaraz & Explains Why He Plays Better at Majors _ 2025 Roland-Garros · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Brace yourself because Ben Shelton's on the set, and that
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: means that all the record books are about to be
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: broken from the city of Atlanta now repping Gainesville. He
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: is an American and is he in the fourth round?
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: You darn Betty is.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna turn it to my friend Chris Eubanks, who's
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: gonna really set the tone of this interview.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Go for it, Chris.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, Ben, For a lot of people, I
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: can't even take you seriously looking at you, but a
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: lot of people, you know your meteoric rise.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: It seemed to happen overnight. But I think we both know.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: There's a philosopher that you really you take a.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Strong liking to, that has a saying that goes, if
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: you got what it takes, I'll take you. Because this here,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: it took ages. You shouldn't know that you can't rush greatness.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: You know why? Because you're too impatient. Why are you
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: so impatient?
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Why are you coming in years on tour, You've ascended
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: inside the top fifteen, you've made multiple second weeks of slams,
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: and you don't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I never heard that quote in my life. But well,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: you really you don't know what that's from? What is
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: that central?
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: Yes, it can't rush great and as I got the
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: because we talked about that album.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I just enjoy.
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: Every opportunity that I've had out here. The Slams are
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: my favorite tournaments. It seems to be the tournaments that
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: I always show up at the most, the tournaments I.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Have the best runs.
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: I love the three out of five set format, and yeah,
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: I hope I don't slow down at them because I
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: love the atmospheres and I love being on the desk
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: with you guys.
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: So hey, now, what is it You've only played eleven Slams.
• 1:27
  Speaker 5: Speaking of those, you've got two semis and a quarter.
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: What is it about the big stage, those big moments
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: that your game kind of elevates more in those stages
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: as maybe a post to some of the smaller tournaments,
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: which you've also done well at, But it seems to
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: be like you're a better player at these majors.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I'm a big atmosphere guy. I love
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: the atmosphere of the Slams. I love playing on the
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: big courts, big crowds, and the energy is just a
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: little bit different. Also, I think that sometimes on the court,
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: it may take me three sets to find my rhythm.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: And you got a lot of time at the Slams.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: So for me having that extra time, those extra that's being.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Able to figure it out.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: It becoming a little bit more of a physical test,
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: which I'm not really scared of. I think are all
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: things that kind of accumulate, and it helped me perform
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: my best heere, I want to.
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: Talk about Gainesville March madness Gators.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Did you watch that? And also are you watching the
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: NBA Playoffs?
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Two questions.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Of course you do, and I want to ask if
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: you guys are watching too, But yeah, I watched a lot.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: You know they have this model now Gator boys stay hot.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: And uh, if I got an opportunity to sign the
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: camera this week, that's what I was going to say,
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: because yeah, it's been pretty cool for me to watch
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: some of my friends that I was in school with
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: get the national championship, and uh, yeah, I think that
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of a school pride.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Yellow jacket yellow jackets making jokes. You ran around those
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: courts a lot in your younger years, so before we
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: start cracking jokes, make sure.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: But I don't know.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: What Georgia Tech has won.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: He does.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: The only mponship exactly where for your dead I don't
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: think Georgia Tech would happen now.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: So it's the Walter Clayton junior of Roland Garros right now.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: What we are seeing, though, is a run by the
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: American men that we have not seen in three decades.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: I know, when you come here, the other media likes
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: to put the pressure on, when are the Americans going
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: to do something? You guys answered it fourth round here
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: you come. We got three possibly four with Quinn. We'll
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: see what he can do tomorrow. Haven't seen that in
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: really thirty years.
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think Chris can attest to this. But you know,
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: a lot of US Americans we play the best when
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: the lights are shining bright, and I think TNT has
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: done a great job of that so far for us
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: this year. I know for me my friends back home,
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: seeing stuff on TNT and Bleacher Report and House of
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: Highlights is like, there's a lot of hype around this tournament.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: And you know, one person aside from me who plays
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: well with some hypis Francis Tiofo. So I think that
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: all of us have really enjoyed not just playing here
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: at Rolling Garros this year. But the coverage and how
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: our families and friends back home have been able to
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: watch and how excited they've been, it's kind of given
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: us a lot of energy and encouragement going into this tournament.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: So I hope we don't slow down.
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: Historically, not a tournament that we've done great at, but
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: we're having a pretty good run here so far.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: It means a lot.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: We're going to be here for the next decade, so
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: we'll keep pumping you up. We are watching right now
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: as we record this, the Carlos Alcarez match, that is
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the next match. What can you give us in terms
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: of what that preparation will be over the next day
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: to get prepared for that.
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think business as usual. I have my formula
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: down pretty well for the off days at Slams at
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: this point. Before the last match was a little different, having.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Four or five days off. That's kind of unheard of,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: but and I'm used to it at this point.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: I think it'll be the same as every every off day,
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: practicing for an hour, hour and a half, feeling good,
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: getting treatment, trying to go to sleep early, stay off
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: the phone.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: But I said, you love big stages that will be
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: a monster stage that is going to bring something out
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: of you maybe we haven't even seen just yet.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm excited just thinking about it.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: You know, if I think he's up.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: Setting a break and two sets to love, probably a
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: runaway train at this point.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: But uh, I don't want to count anyone out.
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: I'd be excited regardless of who I play, but to
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: play the defending champion here and Chatrier kind of my
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: first breakout moment, you could say, at Roland Garros.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: It's really exciting.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: It would mean a lot for me to kind of
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: be in that and feel that, you know, like Center
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: said a couple of weeks ago, him being the best
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: clay court player in the world right now and having
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: the opportunity to compete against him, you know, get give
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: my best and go for it as I always do,
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: and also learn some things at the same time from
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: a great clay quarter I think that's something that I
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: try to do every time I'm on the court with
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: a great clay court player, pick up a few things
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: from them and try to learn kind of like oneever
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: I'm on a grass court with Chris Eubanks.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Try to think of a few tips and tricks, so yeah,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: I'm really excited.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Twenty two years old, he has now reached the fourth
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: round in all four majors. The future is bright and
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: it's going to be happening right here on TNT. Ben
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Shelton congratulate