In 2022, two years before he broke through with his first grand slam title, Jannik Sinner made three major quarterfinals.
The Italian, who turned 21 that year, was bounced in straight sets by Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Australian Open, and then took both Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz to five sets at Wimbledon and the US Open, respectively.
If you watched Sinner play in either of those three matches, you could see the potential, but the clashes had come a few years too soon. Regardless of the results, it was plainly obvious this was a kid who would win and win big in the near future.
Fast forward to this year’s Australian Open semifinal and the roles were reversed as Sinner bounced American upstart Ben Shelton 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena.
Sinner overcomes cramps to book spot in second straight Aus Open final
Shelton — as he has been throughout this tournament — was mighty impressive against Sinner. Unfortunately for the American, it was a high-stakes clash that came just a little too soon.
“I know I’m close. I know my level’s close,” Shelton told reporters.
“I know I have a lot of the stuff that I need. I certainly believe in myself.
“I just think that the reps against those guys, the consistency of playing those guys, playing a lot of matches in a week or a couple weeks, that will be the goal this year for me.”
Despite being less than a year older than Shelton, Sinner has four years of experience on the American, having been on the pro tour now for seven years.
It is hard to fully quantify where experience counts during big matches, but if it manifests anywhere, it is usually in big moments in the heat of the contest, and Sinner proved it to be the case in this clash.
Ben Shelton fought fire with fire right from the outset of his semifinal against Jannik Sinner. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
“I think Jannik likes this situation, likes the pressure point, likes to be in a storm, in a difficult moment. So in this moment he played the best tennis,” Sinner’s coach, Simone Vagnozzi, said.
“Sometimes if he goes a break up or something like this, sometimes he has bad game.
“Normally when the score is really difficult, he plays the best game.”
When the Shelton camp mapped out a game plan for this semifinal, breaking the Sinner serve to start the match would not have been in their wildest dreams.
If Alex de Minaur played a little timid against Sinner in the quarters, the ever-impressive Shelton was the complete opposite in this semifinal.
Half the battle in these high-stakes grand slam matches is believing you belong on the court, and Shelton has self-belief in spades.
“I’m surprised with how normal it does feel out there to me,” Shelton said of playing in his second major semifinal in the past year-and-a-half.
“I’m happy that in the big moments or big atmospheres I don’t panic, I just go out there and go to work and start playing.
“All that you can hope for this late in the tournament is to be in a great place mentally, your body still together physically, and just go out there and compete as hard as you can.”
Shelton has a loud personality that is refreshing for a men’s tour with some dour characters, and he’s also got the game to match it. Both of these were on full show as he threw the first punch of the semi, breaking Sinner’s opening service game.
But this isn’t the Sinner of 2022 anymore, he’s a seasoned veteran — as much as anyone can be at 23 — and he regained his composure to break back soon enough.
Giving up a break so soon after getting one can be demoralising, particularly for a player of little experience, but Shelton got it back once again, this time at the business end of the opening set.
Unfortunately for Shelton, despite finding himself with two set points on serve, he wasn’t able to close it out.
Jannik Sinner was pumped up after defending two set points to eventually claim the first set in a tiebreaker. (AP: Ng Han Guan)
Sinner is known for being stoic on the court, but let out a little roar after breaking back. That in itself was a sign of the Italian feeling the heat. His experience continued to show in the tiebreaker, which he won 7-2 after racing out to a 5-0 lead.
“That was a crucial set,” Sinner said.
“Just trying to stay calm in the important moments. In the tiebreak I tried to play solid, which gave me confidence in the other two sets.”
Over the last 18 months, Sinner has developed a ruthless streak that has taken him from being a precocious young player to a champion, the streak that the likes of Tsitsipas and other players of that generation haven’t been able to access yet.
He showed it in the second set by driving home his advantage with an early break of the Shelton serve that didn’t let the American get a look-in. Before Shelton knew it, he was two sets down after dropping the second 6-2.
However, Shelton would not be deterred.
The beginning of the third set contained some of the best tennis of the match, and maybe the tournament, as Shelton took a 2-1 lead by hitting some absurd winners.
Then came the pivotal moment of the match. Shelton, buoyed by his excellent start to the set, raced to a 15-40 lead on the Sinner serve. The American whipped the crowd into the frenzy sensing a chance to take a 3-1 lead.
It was gut-check time once again for Sinner, and he passed the test with flying colours, reeling off four straight points to hold serve.
Incredibly, Shelton won just seven more points for the remainder of the match, as Sinner closed out the third set with another 6-2 win, giving himself the chance to defend the title he won last year.
Even cramps towards the back end of the third set couldn’t halt Sinner, such is the ruthless winning machine he’s become.
Shelton finished the match out-hitting Sinner with 27 winners to the Italian’s 23, but those came at a cost, 55 unforced errors, to be exact.
Shelton couldn’t capitalise on his good moments after coughing up a few too many unforced errors. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
He also rued what he called “probably one of my worst serving days in this tournament” after landing just 59 per cent of his first serves during the match.
After being beaten by Sinner in the quarters, de Minaur gave an insight into how Sinner’s all-round excellence can force errors out of even the most disciplined players, and it was no surprise to see the ultra-aggressive Shelton with some untimely miscues. Such is the challenge of playing a top-tier opponent.
“I think that those guys … Sinner, Alcaraz, Novak … on their bad days they’re still winning in three sets, winning in four sets. They figure it out,” Shelton said.
“I’m getting closer to being able to do that. Not having a good serving day or serving week and having a great tournament is a huge positive for me.
“Being able to recognise the flaws in what I did, in my game, against some of these guys, being able to go back to the drawing board. It gives me a lot of confidence.
“I’m disappointed because I wanted to see where this match ended up. I win that first set, and kind of get into the depths of it, deep in the fourth or the fifth, which should have been possible with where I was at in the first set, serving with set points.
“Next time I’m out there with set points, I’m going to hit the ace.”
Shelton’s camp will no doubt stew over what could have been when watching back the match, but they can’t be too disappointed by the overall approach.
Shelton isn’t ever going to play passive tennis, and it’s the same aggression that will ultimately find him making deep run after deep run in major tournaments as he hits his peak years.
His meteoric rise is one that isn’t lost on the Sinner camp either.
“He [Sinner] had his hands full tonight against an incredible young player that we are going to see a lot more of deep into the second weeks of majors or even semis and finals or even winning some of these as well,” Sinner’s coach, Darren Cahill, said.
“Every time we see Ben, he continues to improve as a player. So we knew before this match he was going to have his hands full against Ben.”
Unfortunately, just as Sinner did a few years ago, Shelton will have to wait his turn.
