"It hurts pretty bad" - Ben Shelton heartbroken after breaking USA captain Bob Bryan's 'trust' with Davis Cup loss
Ben Shelton was gutted after losing to Australia in the 2024 Davis Cup quarterfinals. The American lost his singles tie against Thanasi Kokkinakis before being paired with Tommy Paul for the deciding doubles, where he faced another defeat.
Shelton was brought out as a surprise pick by Team USA's captain Bob Bryan against Kokkinakis, who was expecting to face Taylor Fritz in the first singles tie. However, the move backfired on the Americans as Shelton fell 1-6, 6-4, 6-7(14) in a thrilling tie.
World No. 4 Fritz won the second tie against Alex de Minnaur and instead of going with their usual doubles pair of Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek, Bryan decided to put his trust in Shelton and Tommy Paul to lead the team to the semifinals. However, the pair lost in straight sets to Mattew Ebden and Jordan Thompson.
Following Team USA's exit from the tournament, Shelton was heartbroken about failing to deliver after being trusted by the captain.
"That also makes me more gutted that, you know, Bob trusted me. I went out there twice today, obviously I fought my ass off, and I didn't leave anything out there on the court, but to not get a win in one of those two matches hurts pretty bad," Ben Shelton said following the loss.
The defeat also marked the end of the 2024 season for the 22-year-old, who finishes with 42 wins from 67 matches. His best Grand Slam finish came at Wimbledon where he lost to Jannik Sinner in the fourth round.
Bob Bryan explains his unexpected decision to pick Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul for deciding doubles clash
Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek have regularly played for the USA and are the nation's highest-ranked doubles players, having recently won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics. The duo played regularly during the group stage of Davis Cup and yet were surprisingly replaced by Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul at the last moment.
Explaining his decision following the USA's exit from the tournament, captain Bob Bryan claimed he wanted to take the Aussies by surprise.
“We were hoping to catch the Aussies a little bit by surprise. We took a shot at it," he said (via mysanantonio.com).
However, Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt denied being surprised by Bryan's decision.
“It didn’t surprise us that much, to be honest. I’d seen (Paul and Shelton) do drills during the week, so, yeah, it wasn’t a surprise," he said.
Australia finished as runners-up in the 2023 Davis Cup Finals and following their thrilling victory over the USA, they could well win the tournament this year.