The quarter-final ended at three in the morning on the Wednesday, against Carlos Alcaraz. The semi-final was on the Friday. Two days in between. Shelton brought it up himself: “Having two days was huge. For me it’s easier in tournament.”
He also said that once he is into a tournament, with his routines in place, everything gets simpler than travelling to a new place and starting over. Which is exactly what happened to him after Montreal: the Masters 1000 title, then a first-round loss in Cincinnati to Jaime Faria.
Two days. Two. In club league (interclubs, Belgium’s weekend team league), we play singles at 2pm, doubles at 4.30pm, and in between there’s the committee’s cake, which is not a recognised recovery protocol. So yes, that methodical Friday tennis, I understand it technically, I even reproduce it at Tuesday practice. With two days off and a fresh string job, two practice sessions away, mind you, we’d be having a different conversation. The level in club league has gone way up, people don’t realise.
Shelton said he was surprised by how calm he felt: “I was honestly shocked with how calm I was out there today.” He contrasted the euphoria of the win over Alcaraz with the way he handled the semi-final, far more methodical by his own account.
Behind it all, there is his father’s phone call. Bryan Shelton rang Rafael Nadal a few days after the Cincinnati loss to ask how you follow up a big win: get through the first match, take the day off, then find your best tennis again the next week. The family kept five words: “don’t celebrate until you separate”.
Silly question, but if you can only celebrate after the next match, there has to be a point where you celebrate the last one? I checked, and actually nobody knows.
Shelton plays Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final. He has lost all five of their previous meetings. The last American to win a Grand Slam title is Andy Roddick, in 2003.
It’s true, we checked: Tennis Majors.
