"You guys think I have X-ray vision" - Ben Shelton hits out at fans after backlash for Swiss Indoors controversy against Tomas Martin Etcheverry
Ben Shelton recently responded to fans for pointing fingers at him for not noticing the incident that made Tomas Martin Etcheverry lose a point during their match on October 22. The American won the very first match at the Swiss Indoors of his career.
Shelton commenced the first match of the Swiss Indoors 2024 with a favorable start; however, things took a controversial turn due to a wrong decision by the umpire in the sixth game of the first set. As it turned out, Etcheverry made his serve, and the American's return landed outside the baseline and then bounced forward to make contact with Etcheverry's leg. However, according to the umpire, the ball touched the player directly and proceeded to award a point to Shelton.
The 22-year-old ultimately won the match with a 6-3, 6-4 scoreline and then acknowledged the controversial situation during an on-court interview. He said that he felt bad for what happened; however, he will watch the replay for himself to see what happened during the match.
"Yeah, that's a tough moment and a bad call. If it hit the ground, I'm going to watch it after the match, not going to take your word for it, but I'll go watch it for myself and see what happened," said Ben Shelton.
He continued..
“I went to my team, who was kind of on that line, and I said ‘did you see what happened’? They said it looked like it hit his foot in the air. If they would have said it looked like it hit the ground I would've given him the point immediately, but not my place and I couldn't see the ball at all, obviously I was 20 feet behind my own baseline.”
Following this statement, the American player faced backlash from the fans for claiming that he couldn't see the ball at all when he made the hit. Tennistv shared a clip of the player's statement on Instagram, and the fans flooded the comment section, criticizing him. However, Shelton in no time responded to the negative comments and wrote:
"You guys in the comments think I have X-ray vision to see through the net from 85 feet away😂 "
Ben Shelton reflected on his win at the Swiss Indoors 2024
Ben Shelton opened up about his win against Tomas Etcheverry at the Swiss Indoors match. He said that he entered the match with a lot of confidence, which he channeled from the way he competed in his previous matches. The American spoke about the surface and revealed that with just two tournaments left for this season, he will try his best. (As quoted by ATP tour)
"I went into the match with a lot of confidence because of the way I have been playing,” said Ben Shelton. "This is the type of surface I'm really comfortable on and my game is coming together really well. Two more tournaments this year and I'm pushing strong to the end. I came out and executed a good game plan."
Ahead of this match, Ben Shelton competed in the Shanghai Masters, where he reached round three of the tournament and was trounced by Jannik Sinner with a score of 6-4, 7(7)-6(1). The American's next competitor for the Swiss Indoors will be decided after the clash between Adrian Mannarino and Stan Wawrinka.