“Of course, in the end the goals should be good and realistic,” Ferrero said. “He’s already won a couple of Masters 1000s, he’s reached his first Grand Slam final, quarter-final, semi-final… He’s a player who doesn’t set limits for himself. He doesn’t see the Grand Slam victory far away, he thinks big. By improving some areas of his game, he could have a great chance to compete equally with the best.”
How Ferrero wants to get Shelton there
The first area is shot selection. “Order is one of the things he needs. Knowing which weapon to use at each moment,” Ferrero said. “When you have a player with so many weapons, so much power, a strong player who serves so well, knowing which shot to use in each situation is important. Right now, relatively many points in his hand are disappearing from him. Between his dad and me, we have to make him understand the game better.”
He described it as a matter of court reading. “That’s what I call knowing how to play well with your shot information and play a proper invisible game. Those are the things that Ben hasn’t automated yet.”
The second is consistency. Shelton already competes with Alcaraz and Yannick Sinner for Ferrero. “When you see the final: 7-6, 7-5. “With the aggressive tennis that he has and serves it the way he does, it’s hard to see him being beaten easily,” he said. “The challenge is to get him to compete well all year. That’s where he falls a little short.”
Shelton said much the same after Sunday’s finale. US Open final against Alexander Zverev and after the Paris final against Alcaraz, he said at his press conference that grand finals against the best is where he wants to be. “That’s the position I want to be in, and I think that’s how you keep improving,” he said. “It’s hard not to get better when you’re on the court with these guys who push you and make you play at a higher level. I’m super hungry and excited to go to Tour.”
