Ben Shelton avait battu Frances Tiafoe à l'US Open l'an passé. Ce vendredi soir, 'Big Foe' a pris sa revanche sur son jeune compatriote, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3. Shelton a tenté de faire parler son punch mais s'est heurté à un Tiafoe solide et discipliné. En conférence de presse, le joueur de 21 ans n'a pas hésité à tacler les organisateurs. Le jeune Américain se serait bien vu jouer en night session contre son compatriote et ami. Une déception.
Vidéo : @USOpen
Vidéo : @USOpen
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00:00My thoughts, a tough one, obviously I thought it was a great match, I thought I did a lot
00:11of really good things throughout the five sets.
00:15There's two big opportunities that are kind of replaying in my mind, I wish I had back
00:22and other than that, congrats to Foe, too good.
00:28I thought that once he got that lead in the fifth, he really started to fly, so I think
00:37I can take some positives from this match, but yeah, definitely a few shots that went
00:42back.
00:43Congratulations on a great performance.
00:45Thanks.
00:46Questions?
00:47Richard?
00:48Ben, just talk a little bit about the emotions, the environment out there, I mean obviously
00:53you've been there before, but what did it feel like today?
00:56Yeah, it didn't feel like a third round match, it felt like one of those that you play late
01:03in the two weeks, should have been a night match, but it is what it is, but yeah, great
01:14atmosphere, it's just one of those back and forth, back and forth, and I wasn't able to
01:23capitalize on the chances I had in the end, and when he had them today, he really came
01:30through in the big moments.
01:33I thought since I've been on tour, today was probably the best that anyone has returned
01:40my serve that I've seen.
01:44From early in the match, there was one where I went big out wide, like 130, and he cracked
01:49it down the line clean, hit the baseline, and I was like, oof, one of those days.
01:53Eva?
01:54Ben, tough loss today, but at the end of the match, you looked like beyond what a normal
02:02competitor, even someone who's friends like, in terms of happiness for Francis, you looked
02:06genuinely excited for him.
02:08What were you kind of thinking, were you excited for him, and then what did you guys chat about
02:12a little bit at the end?
02:13No, I mean, you play a five set match like that, with somebody that you're friends with,
02:22I think, someone's blowing up my phone, hey, I'm in a press conference, Dad, okay, yeah,
02:32I'll be out in a couple minutes, what, sorry, it's like, there's a few calls in a row, can
02:40you ask the question again?
02:42You just seemed really, really excited for Francis, what were kind of the emotions going
02:46through your mind when you met him at net, and what did you guys chat about a little
02:49bit?
02:50Yeah, I mean, obviously, I thought he played lights out today, so that was one of the things,
02:56you gotta be happy for a guy and congratulate, especially a guy like him, when he's playing
03:03the way he's playing.
03:06I think that it's important to show it sometimes, that you can be happy for a guy when they
03:18beat you, obviously, there's some things I want to do better, I'm a competitor, I always
03:22want to win, but I've taken a few things from him in the past year, and I thought that he's
03:30always handled it well, you know, maybe not like a big embrace when we're on the court,
03:36but soon, or right after, it's like, things are back to normal, but one of those cool
03:44environments and matches to be a part of, so it didn't feel right to just go up with
03:50a negative look on my face, shake his hand and walk off the court, because he played
03:57some great ball today, so I told him, you know, keep serving like that, keep returning
04:02like that, and see where this thing goes, obviously, he took me out here, so let's see
04:09what he can do.
04:10What do you mean when you say you're happy for him, especially a guy like that, you mean
04:13the way he plays, the way the start of his season went, what did you mean by that?
04:16Oh no, a guy like that, just how good of a guy he is, you know, always smiling, not really
04:24ever a negative look on his face, one of those guys that's fun to be around in the
04:30locker room, you know, he's always cracking jokes even, I beat him in the final at Houston,
04:37he's giving me shots in his post-match speech, just like a good guy, I didn't mean anything
04:45negative by it, just a great guy, yeah.
04:49And what do you think this rivalry, as well as the friendship, but with the great level
04:54of play, and the passion you guys bring, can mean to the two of you and to the sport
05:00in this country in the years to come?
05:03Yeah, I think it's really cool to see where American tennis is going, you know, it's not
05:13just me and Foe, you know, there's four or five other guys in the mix, and we all are
05:22going to have our moments to shine, there's peaks and valleys in this sport for sure,
05:28and I just got to continue to improve.
05:32I know that this is, even though I hadn't, you know, maybe I looked happy for him or
05:39excited for him after the match, definitely lit a fire underneath me, I'm not someone
05:46who likes to lose, I hate losing, and yeah, I'm excited to see where American tennis goes
05:56and I'm going to continue doing my part and go back to the drawing board, you know, look
06:03at those things that I did today that I wish I hadn't have done, and try to get better.
06:09Okay, Matt.
06:10Hey Ben, had fun today, what's your process of learning from your losses, I mean, it's
06:19a long match, will you watch a video of the whole match at some point, or specific spots,
06:26and you know, when you think about what happened there, are there already things in your head
06:33that you're thinking, like, I should have done that differently or that differently?
06:37Yeah, for sure, I think sometimes I need a little bit more time to look at it analytically,
06:47sometimes just emotion gets in the way, but this one, you know, seems pretty clear to
06:53me, I thought that he did a great job defending, being offensive off his backhand wing today,
07:00it was like four sets, I think he missed one, you know, he was cracking it down the line,
07:06even small margins, you know, he's hitting that ball an inch over the net, a couple feet
07:11from the baseline, mostly, unless he went angle, and it was just one of those days where
07:17that's a corner you just don't want to go to, I have service line forehands ripping
07:21the ball to that corner off the court, he's coming up with the angle there, so I wish
07:28I would have got into different patterns a little bit more when I was playing, sometimes
07:34starting off the point to that, that corner was just not a winning play today, I wish
07:43I did a little bit better job on some key points early in the fourth and fifth set,
07:49especially early in the fourth, I kind of had a chance to be on my way to putting the
07:56match away, first game, I had a love 30 where I made an unforced error, I love 30, and had
08:03a second serve look where I missed a forehand by 47 feet, and then early in the fifth,
08:11one all, I had 1540 again, and at 3040 I had a sitter forehand in the middle of the court,
08:17and missed that inside out, you know, which is a play that I had been killing guys on
08:23so far this week, and one of the ones that I was most confident in, so it's just errors
08:29that can't happen in a match like this, and yeah, those are my kind of first thoughts,
08:36and I'm sure that I'll see others when I watch the match fully.
08:40Just take a couple more, the back and here, and then we're done, go ahead.
08:44Unlucky today Ben, you well played, you said that you thought the match should have been
08:49a night session match, I just want to know if you can elaborate a bit more on that, and
08:53like, you know, if you prefer playing at night or in the day?
08:56No, I don't mind either way, I know that me and Foe both definitely wanted this to
09:05be a night match, you know, we talked about it in the locker room either last night or
09:09this morning, I forget, it's like, yeah, even if it was on Louis, we would have rather been
09:16in that night slot, just, you know, we played here at night one year ago, it feels right,
09:25you know, Friday night, Ben versus Foe, I'm sure that he's going to get a night
09:32match here in his next match probably, but yeah, I think we would have, it was still
09:41an unbelievable atmosphere, but I think playing at night is a little bit different and special
09:48at the US Open for sure, I'm probably just a little butthurt because I didn't get to
09:53bring out my night session kit, you know.
09:58Last question.
10:00Obviously a tough loss, but speak to the significance of you and Francis doing this
10:07at a stadium named after Arthur Ashe, two years in a row.
10:11Yeah, this is something that me and Foe spoke on continuously, him after the match last
10:19year, and obviously it's always a little bit tougher to speak on the positives as a
10:26guy who loses, but I think big moments for our sport, for sure, I guess kind of just
10:35shows how far we've come, and yeah, I think it's only going to continue to improve, I
10:47think that Foe is the best at reaching the casual sports fan in our sport, especially
10:55here in America, and I'm sure there is more celebrities who I know don't know in the
11:03crowd than I can imagine to come watch Big Foe, and you know, me as well, but I think
11:10that that's something that he's kind of helped change the culture in our sport in
11:18the last few years, and one of those things that I can look to try to do as well.