From Court too Coaching: Ben Shelton‘s Father Finds Success Guiding His Son
Ben Shelton’s recent success on the ATP Tour is rooted in a family steeped in tennis, and especially, the coaching experience of his father, Bryan Shelton. While manny recognise Bryan as the coach who helped his daughter, Emma, navigate the early stages of her career – including a collegiate career at the University of Florida - his approach has been instrumental in Ben’s advancement as well.
Bryan notes a striking contrast in the personalities of his two children. “They were just almost opposites. You have my daughter who’s a little bit more of an introvert, and you have Ben, who’s a total extrovert. One that has confidence, no matter what he does, and the other one that is very critical of herself,” he explained. This difference manifested even in their reactions to tournament results. Bryan recounts asking both children after events what they did well and what could be improved. While ben typically found little to critique in his performance, Emma would often offer a detailed list of areas for growth, even after a victory.
Bryan’s own experience as a player informs his coaching philosophy. He reflects that a lack of self-belief hindered his own career, preventing him from reaching his goal of becoming a Top 50 player. “I think that I always said that if I could have been a more confident player, I would have done a lot better ” Shelton said. “I wanted to be a Top 50 player. I didn’t quite get there and I felt like I got close, but I think just having a little bit more self belief – belief in the work that I was doing, belief in this athleticism and skills that I had - that I could go out there and perform on the biggest stages and play my best tennis. I never really felt like I was able to fully do that.”
Now, as a coach, Shelton approaches the game with a deep curiosity and analytical mindset, describing himself as a “tennis nerd.” He actively studies successful players, seeking to understand the principles behind their success and applying them to his coaching.
As Ben, a left-handed player, progresses, Bryan has been particularly focused on analyzing the game of Rafael Nadal. “Ben’s a lefty, and so it’s been fun to really dive in and see what made Nadal so great, as far as just how he carried himself, but also his tactics and patterns of play and just the things that made him really, really tough to beat out there,” Shelton said. “[I can] try to help Ben to understand some of the things that Rafa did, that he can also try to emulate.” He also keeps a close eye on other rising stars like Jack Draper, Carlos Alcaraz, and Jannik Sinner, utilizing stats and analytics to identify key elements of their games and integrate those learnings into Ben’s training.
