Her father, Brian Shelton, a former pro who now coaches her, was then asked to fill in who she was.
“Moms are special,” she said. “My mother was very special. Just a special lady who gave her kids the opportunity to do what they were passionate about, and I was passionate about playing tennis at a young age. He supported it.”
Money was the problem and he solved it. “My dad did, too, although it was a bit disgusting because, you know, he was probably lower middle class and not a lot of money to try to do it at a high level. It’s too expensive. My mom just made sacrifices to make it happen. I mean, I won’t go into all the details, but it wasn’t easy.”
He was able to pass on the same principles and values that he passed on to me.
What he started did not stop with him. “Then he was able to influence Ben and his life and also my daughter Emma, it was great that he was able to pass on the same principles and values that he passed on to me, he was able to pass them on as well. It’s just nice that Ben recognized that tonight.”
There was a year of losses in the family. “It’s been a tough year for us, losing him, losing my coach and mentor, Bill Thiem, this same year,” Brian Shelton said. “It’s been a tough year, but there have been so many blessings and so many good things like tonight.”
There’s a line Dad keeps coming back to when asked about it, and it’s not about tennis. He grew up in Alabama and refused to stay on the subject. He did not reject this one. “This kid, it’s kind of surreal. I didn’t think he would even play this sport and then be in the sport and be where he is now, it’s just hard to believe, it’s hard to believe and just super, super grateful.”
Regina Ann Shelton was born on October 26, 1935 and died on March 27, 2026. Ben Shelton wrote a wonderful tribute, posted a month after his death, from his Alabama home where family gathered yesterday to celebrate his life: he was on me and without him I would never have played tennis, let alone professionally (…) I love you, Grandeur.
Ben Shelton is the first black American to reach the US Open final since Arthur Ashe in 1972. He plays Alexander Zverev on Sunday.