Coco Gauff echoes Ben Shelton's sentiment with 1-word message as he gears up for Australian Open SF against Jannik Sinner
Ben Shelton found support from fellow American Coco Gauff as he prepares for the Australian Open 2025 semifinal against defending champion Jannik Sinner. Shelton reached his career’s second Grand Slam semifinal after grinding out a 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (4) win against Lorenzo Sonego in the quarterfinals.
The 22-year-old now faces a stiff challenge against top seed and reigning champion Sinner, who dropped just two sets on his way to the semifinal and has won four of their last five meetings in straight sets.
Following his win against Sonego, Shelton posted a series of pictures on his Instagram handle from his matches in Melbourne. The photos showed Shelton celebrating his wins under the warm Melbourne sun and the post was captioned:
“Put in work, let God do the rest”
Gauff, who lost in the quarterfinals to Paula Badosa, commented on the post and hyped up Shelton with a one-word reaction. She wrote:
“Facts”
The American players are very fond of each other on the tour, with Madison Keys recently talking about how comforting it was to have friends on the Tour.
“It's really a great group of Americans, and I love being able to kind of travel around and it's always nice to have friends that are also travelling this crazy circus,” she had recently said.
Shelton and Keys are the two Americans in the reckoning for the Australian Open title as Keys faces top seed Iga Swiatek for a spot in the women’s final.
Ben Shelton joins elite list of American tennis stars following his Australian Open QF win
By reaching the Australian Open semifinals, Ben Shelton joins an elite list of American tennis players that includes legends such as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Shelton became the eighth American male tennis player to reach multiple Grand Slam semifinals under the age of 22. Shelton had earlier reached the semifinals of the US Open in 2023.
Former American tennis star Mardy Fish had predicted a bright future for Shelton, expecting him to win multiple Grand Slam titles after the latter got past Lorenzo Sonego in the quarterfinals.
Along with his incredible skills on the court, Ben Shelton is also fairly outspoken and recently had a go at the Australian Open’s interviewers for their treatment of the players. He referred to the Novak Djokovic issue and also spoke about his experience with the on-court interviews, saying:
"There are some comments that have been made to me in post-match interviews by a couple of different guys. 'Hey, Monfils is old enough to be your dad, maybe he is your dad.' and 'Hey, Ben, how does it feel no matter who you play, nobody will cheer for you?'"
Ben Shelton hoped that things would change in the coming days and that the broadcasters would switch up their line of questioning.
"I don't think that's respectful. I think broadcasters should be helping us grow our sport. There has just been a lot of negativity and I just think that's something that needs to change," he added.
The American will hope to make his point felt by reaching his first Grand Slam final when he takes on Jannik Sinner at the Rod Laver Arena on Friday, January 24.