10 non-tennis facts you ought to know about Ben Shelton

Modified Oct 12, 2023 01:21 GMT

Tennis fans have come to know and love Ben Shelton over the 2023 season. From the feel-good story of a youngster having his first big breakthrough to a serious contender between the first and last Grand Slams of the season, it has marked quite a transformation for the player.

And while all of that has given fans plenty of time to get familiarized with the American's game, there's still a lot to learn about the talented youngster — especially off the court.

Keeping that in mind, we have listed 10 non-tennis facts you ought to know about Ben Shelton:

1. Ben Shelton Enjoys American TV and movies

The 21-year-old enjoys taking some stress off through casual viewings on TV and in movie theatres. His favorite TV show is the courtroom drama Suits, while Tom Cruise's action film Top Gun: Maverick tops his list of favorite films.

2. Rap dominates his playlist

Most players have their select playlist leading up to matches and for their warm-up sessions. From the looks of it, Shetlon's list would mostly be dominated by the rap genre as his favorite singer is Artist Julius Dubose, better known professionally as A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie.

3. Played as football quarterback before choosing tennis

The youngster almost did not take up tennis as he enjoyed football more in school. It was only his short build that stopped him from pursuing the sport full-time.

"Going into the end of middle school, there were a lot of huge kids in football, and I hadn’t really hit my growth spurt yet," Ben Shelton had told The New York Times in an interview. "I was maybe a little tired of getting bashed up all the time."

4. Has a soft spot for ice cream

While the tennis tour demands a tough regimen, there's always some room for ice cream — or that is at least the case with Ben Shelton. Besides the frozen dessert, the American also enjoys Rigatoni Bolognese.

5. Wished to work on Wall Street

In a world where he had not pursued sport, Shelton believes he would have ended up on Wall Street. The youngster has described having a job in finance as his dream. Not only that, he has said in the past his favorite subject in school was mathematics.

6. Taking online classes while pursuing tennis

Just because he did not make it to Wall Street does not mean that Shelton cannot take an interest in studies. He was taking two online courses during the 2023 academic year — in entrepreneurship and international business.

7. Fancies a book or two

Shelton also enjoys reading the odd book every now and then. His current favorite? American writer S.E. Hinton's 1967 coming-of-age novel The Outsiders.

8. Enjoyed track-and-field events

Ben Shelton's lighting quick speed is one of his biggest strengths on the court as well.

Shelton's footspeed is one of his biggest assets on the tennis court. And it is no wonder that the youngster had actually taken a keen interest in track-and-field events when in school. Lightning-quick speed just comes naturally to him.

9. Used passport for the first time in 2023

Shelton did not play any tennis outside of the States in the early part of his career. In fact, it was only in January this year that the American got to use his passport for the first time — to fly out to Down Under for the Australia Open.

10. Ben Shelton is an animal lover

Shelton enjoys a bit of wildlife, as was clear from his interest in visiting koalas during his first trip to Melbourne.

“I definitely want to go see some animals,” Ben Shelton had said at the Australian Open. “I don’t know if it’s at a zoo, but I want to see some koalas or kangaroos, something like that. I think that would be really cool.”

Pictures of him posing with a baby koala and kangaroos have since surfaced online. He had also posed for photographs with guard dogs at SW19 ahead of the Wimbledon championships this year.