Andy Roddick reveals he recently spoke with Ben Shelton's dad Bryan and told him that he was "heartbroken" over how the 23-year-old's US Open run ended.
In August, Shelton put up an outstanding week in Toronto to become a Masters champion. The American also reached the Washington semifinal and was a quarterfinalist at the Cincinnati Masters.
Shelton was playing the tennis of his life and that earned him a nod of being a contender for the US Open title. And it wasn't a secret that there was buzz in the American tennis community, which was hoping to see the world No. 9 win the US Open and become the first American man since Roddick in 2003 to lift a Grand Slam singles title.
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While Shelton routinely made it past his opening two matches in New York in straight sets, he sustained an extremely unfortunate shoulder injury in the next match and was forced to retire against Adrian Mannarino.
For Roddick, it was gut-wrenching to see.
Roddick: Shelton's form was so good that the output was predictable
I told him that I was heartbroken for Ben at the US Open because the thing that you want as a pro tennis player is to get to the point where you build and build and build and then you are pretty close to positive about what your output is going to be on a given day. Ben had gotten to that point by winning in Canada. Every time he stepped on the court, you knew it was going to be a pretty good product," Roddick said on his podcast.
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I was just heartbroken because it takes months and months and years and years to get to the point where that output is predictable and you look like a top-five guy. Ben had that, he had gotten to that point, and then injury interrupted it. I was really excited about his prospects at the US Open before that injury."
After the injury, Shelton didn't play any tournaments for a month. When the American returned, he wasn't anywhere near his best form as he went 3-6 in the rest of the year, including going 0-3 at the ATP Finals.
