Ben Shelton Beats Frances Tiafoe to Advance to U.S. Open Semifinal
The New York Times Shelton, 20, becomes the youngest American man to reach the U.S. Open semifinal since Andy Roddick in 2003.
There was a time when a U.S. Open quarterfinal between two big-hitting American men could just be referred to as tennis rather than a historic night for the sport in this country.
This is the way the home Grand Slam would always be for the country that has won the Davis Cup, the sports national competition, more than any other. But it wasnt that way, not for 18 years, Tuesday night, and then Tuesday night when two young Black men, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton made it so again.
They came to it from different places Tiafoe, the son of a maintenance man at a tennis center in suburban Maryland, Shelton the son of a former tour pro once ranked 55th in the world who became a highly regarded college coach. During the last year they have become brothers of a sort, Tiafoe, the 25-year-old veteran who has become one of the most popular players on the tour guiding the 20-year-old Shelton, who didnt have a passport a year ago, through his first season as a professional.
