J. SINNER/B. Shelton
6-3, 7-6
THE MODERATOR: Ben, sorry about today, but a great season, coming all the way to the Nitto ATP Finals. Can you tell us what you're most proud of this season.
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, tough to finish out the season like this, 0-3 at the Finals. Yeah, for me obviously a great year. A lot of positives. Tennis is full of highs and lows. This will just make me work harder in the off-season, make me even more excited for the 2026 season.
But yeah, it stings, for sure.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Can you give us an evaluation of how did you feel in these last tournaments of the season after the injury in New York? How close to your best level you felt in these last months of the season?
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, definitely not my best. I played one good match. Actually wouldn't say that today was a bad match either. My match against Rublev in Paris I thought I played well.
Yeah, it's just tennis. Everybody is wired differently. Me coming back from being out for a while, it takes me a little bit to find my rhythm. Trying to do that at the end of the year when guys are really, really in good form is difficult.
For me, I'll find it. I'll find my movement, all the different shots around the court that I need. Today I played a good match from the baseline, from the net. I just honestly got out-served. That was kind of the theme all three matches I played here: the guys served better than me.
That's not a biggest concern. I know I have a great serve. Got to give a lot of credit at the end of this year the way that guys, in-form players, played. There's no easy matches in my group. Yeah, came up a little bit short.
Q. Thinking ahead to next year, are you someone who is thinking about specifically closing the gap to the two at the top or are you thinking more about your own game, what you need to work on?
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, for me, I'm always trying to chase the people in front of me. How I can get better? How I can be more effective? Also not losing sight of what makes me great and not trying to change too much.
But yeah, certainly eye-opening being able to play against some of the best players in the world on the things that I need to do better. I'm not the player that I want to be yet. Not close. There's so many things that I need to work on.
But for me, I'm lucky. I mean, you can look at it two ways: either I was out for a month and a half with an injury or I got a month-and-a-half break. Now, when I go home, it's not like I need time to decompress and not play for a while before I start training. I can get right back into it.
Q. How does the process of being inspired to work further, to come up with the missing pieces after such matches, work for you? How does it look? When can we expect something to happen with you?
BEN SHELTON: You mean like when you expect the improvements to happen?
Q. Yes.
BEN SHELTON: No, I mean, I think tennis is a sport where you don't get instant gratification. I could be working on things now this week or have worked on things for the past three months, past two months, past month when I've been trying to come back. I may not see it on the court yet. But maybe in Australia, Paris, at some point next year I start to see those things come along.
It's always been like that in my career. I set a goal, start working on it every day. It doesn't come to me right away. It's frustrating. Sure enough, down the line, as long as I continue to put consistent work in every single day, which has never really been a problem for me, I see those things start to work and start to come alive in my matches.
Q. You've had some really good matches against the top two. Today felt like it was really close. How close do you see that gap? Do you have in your mind specific things that you think you need to do to get there?
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I mean, you can't just look at it as 'those two'. I think tennis is a matchup sport. If you look at the top four, they're all such different players, or top five, or top 10. Everybody is very different. Every matchup is going to be different.
There's certain things about matchups with certain players that I love. There is certain things they probably love against me and things that they hate.
Trying to figure out how to be more disruptive looks different if you're talking about a Carlos or Sinner. Two completely different players. A Zverev, Fritz, Novak, any of the guys at the top of the game, there's going to be different solutions.
You have to be able to kind of adapt on the fly when you're playing certain players and not fall in love with a certain game plan against somebody, 'cause you want to play your own game and try to stay true to yourself, do the things that are strengths for you.
For me, I think I have a very specific style that I like playing. That helps me play my best. At the same time I have to figure out ways to make guys uncomfortable.
Q. You played against Jannik in different conditions: grass, outdoor hard courts, indoor hard courts. In what kind of condition is most difficult to play against him? Here he has an unbelievable record. You are the only player in the last two years to take him to a tiebreak.
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, different parts of his game are best on different surfaces. I think in Australia his ability to build the point, to move you around the court, the groundstrokes come alive. It helps the serve as well there. It's really what he does after the serve.
Here, indoor courts, he's hitting the lines a lot on the serve. Pinpoint accuracy. It's easier to serve indoors in general.
If you look at the three guys I played, how tight they were on the lines. He was probably the closest of the three. But it's a small difference between him, Zverev and Felix, what they've been doing this tournament.
I think his serve makes him really, really difficult here. Obviously the ability to take time away and hit winners from different places, from the baseline, wherever on the court, is a big advantage.
Yeah, I guess it's hard to argue that indoor hard court is not his best surface. But I think the best players adapt. The best players are great at changing little things in their game to be effective on every surface.
To be winning slams on multiple surfaces, winning a bunch of titles on different surfaces throughout the year, you've got to be able to adapt. That's one of my biggest focuses going into 2026.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports