It was a rough afternoon for the American men at the U.S. Open.
With tears in his eyes, No. 6 Ben Shelton removed himself from Friday’s third-round match against France’s Adrian Mannarino with a shoulder injury, bringing a sudden end to the 22-year-old’s run at Flushing Meadows.
About an hour later, No. 17 Frances Tiafoe suffered an upset loss to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets.
Shelton retired from the action after dropping the fourth set against Mannarino at Louis Armstrong Stadium. The match would have gone to a decisive fifth set had Shelton been able to continue.
Instead, Mannarino won, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, ret., to advance to the fourth round.
“Usually I’ll play through anything and just kind of find a way,” Shelton said. “And whether it’s sickness or injury, like, if I can stay out there, I can stay out there. I never felt anything like this before.”
Shelton said he “can’t pinpoint” when he got hurt but that he didn’t have an injury going into the match.
The third set ended with Shelton delivering a diving shot from the corner and landing on his left arm. The left-handed Shelton was then heard in the fourth set telling the coach’s box, “I did something to my shoulder. I don’t know what it is.”
After that fourth set, a seated Shelton rubbed his eyes, then quickly embraced Mannarino before walking off of the court with a towel over his head.
It’s the first time in 178 career matches that Shelton had to retire.
“I was just trying to adjust and figure out whatever I can to keep competing,” Shelton said. “Even though I was in pain, I was just kind of in that competitive mindset of trying to find a way and push through it.”
Shelton is in the midst of the best season of his career, advancing to the semifinals at the Australian Open, the fourth round at the French Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. He made it to the U.S. Open semifinal in 2023.
Tiafoe, meanwhile, lost 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 to Struff, the world’s 144th-ranked men’s player, on the Grandstand court. It was a disappointing finish for Tiafoe, who made it to the Open semifinal last year.
“I just thought Grandstand was super quick today, and having to have rallies was very, very tough. I was late on a lot of balls, just scrubbing them to be on offense, and he was dictating play most of the time,” Tiafoe said.
“The match was always kind of on his racquet. I had a little window there when he just gave me some gifts. I didn’t take it. But I played extremely passive today. I didn’t put any pressure on him at all.”
An American man has not won the U.S. Open — or any Grand Slam, for that matter — since Andy Roddick claimed the crown at Flushing Meadows in 2003. Ending that drought becomes more difficult without Shelton and Tiafoe, who held two of the four highest seeds among U.S. men.
“This is my favorite tournament,” Shelton said last week. “I think that we’ve got a lot of guys … who can make deep runs here and play against the best players in the world. I think that it’s a matter of time for us.”
With News Wire Services
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