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Alycia Parks recently picked fellow American Ben Shelton as her preferred mixed doubles partner.
Parks is set to kick off her clay swing for the 2024 season at the Oieras Ladies Open 2024 in Portugal on Tuesday, April 16. She has drawn Mexico's Renata Zarazua as her opening-round opponent.
Before the match, Parks organized a Q&A session with her followers on Instagram. One of her followers asked her to name a player that she would prefer as her mixed doubles partner.
"Who would you want as a mixed doubles partner?" the fan asked.
In response, Alycia Parks tagged men's World No. 14 Ben Shelton suggesting he is her pick.
Parks has already made two US Open appearances in the mixed doubles category since turning pro in 2018. She paired up with Christopher Eubanks in 2022 but lost in the first round to the duo of Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski.
She then made another attempt at the mixed doubles title at Flushing Meadows last year. This time, she joined forces with compatriot Denis Kudla and defeated the pair of Coco Gauff and Jack Sock in the first round only to lose to Anna Danilina and Harri Heliovaara in the next.
Notably, Ben Shelton too contended for the mixed doubles crown at the US Open 2023 with Taylor Townsend in his team. Shelton and Townsend surprisingly traveled as far as the semifinals.
The two defeated Luisa Stefani-Joe Salisbury (4), Aldila Sutjiati-Rohan Bopanna, and Demi Schuurs-Hugo Nys (7) before going down against top-seeded pair of Jessica Pegula and Austin Krajicek.
In another answer to a follower's question, Alycia Parks revealed her clay court schedule for the current season. According to her response, she will compete at the Madrid Open and Italian Open before setting foot in Paris for the French Open.
Ben Shelton teamed up with Emma Navarro to win the Tie Break Tens mixed doubles exhibition at Indian Wells 2024
Ben Shelton failed to make the most out of his time in singles and doubles competitions at the Indian Wells 2024 as he bowed out with losses in the fourth and first rounds, respectively.
He, however, tasted success at a mixed doubles exhibition event called the Eisenhower Cup organized by Tie Break Tens at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Shelton teamed up with compatriot Emma Navarro to bag the trophy and $200,000 prize money attached to the first-to-10-points format contest.
Shelton and Navarro downed power couple Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa 10-8 in the final after the six other pairs. These included Iga Swiatek-Hubert Hurkacz, Aryna Sabalenka-Taylor Fritz, Caroline Wozniacki-Holger Rune, Maria Sakkari-Andrey Rublev, Sloane Stephens-Tommy Paul, and Zheng Qinwen-Frances Tiafoe.
