Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz show off their skills in a tough racquet and balls challenge alongside others, end up scoring the most
Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and other ATP stars attempted to complete the 'around the world' challenge with their tennis racquets during the ongoing Shanghai Masters.
The challenge involves balancing as many tennis balls as possible on a racquet, tossing them in the air, encircling them with the racquet, and then catching them again with the racquet.
The clip began with host showing the players a video of the record holder, perfectly completing the trick with 15 tennis balls. Some players doubted they could do it right off the bat.
"Yeah, I definitely couldn't do that" said Ben Shelton
"I can't believe it. That's insane," said a wide eyed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The players hilariously attempted to land the balls as they bounced all over the place. Carlos Alcaraz gallantly tried to balance nine balls, which all went haywire. The Spaniard laughed and quickly began collecting them while trying to guage his mistake.
"No, no, no, it's too much. It's too much," Alcaraz said.
Francis Tiafoe, who appeared to struggle the most, ended his turn by smashing the racquet in mock frustruation.
Alcaraz and Shelton were the winners, successfully balancing six balls each after multiple attempts. Holger Rune and Stefanos Tsitsipas completed the trick with five balls each.
Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton's performances at the Shanghai Masters
Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz both took part in the Shanghai Masters tournament, which is currently underway.
The youngsters opened their campaigns with straight set victories in the second round (after receiving byes for the first round). The American defeated Jaume Munar while Alcaraz overcame Gregoire Barrere. The third round saw the top seed enjoy a straight-sets victory over Dan Evans. Shelton came through in the third round in a three-set battle against Roman Safiulin.
The Spaniard's stint at the tournament was cut short in the fourth round by 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Meanwhile Shelton overcame one of the toughest opponents, Jannik Sinner in the third round. Sinner had come into the tournament fresh off his victory at the China Open.
In an on-court interview, Shelton exuded confidence going into his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal.
"I had a lot of belief in my ability to serve and hang tough and to make it deep in sets. I trusted my fitness levels, being able to go the distance. That gave me a lot of confidence."
The 19th seed will next face his compatriot Sebastian Korda in quarterfinals of the tournament on Thursday, October 12.