Competing at the French Open for the second time in his career, Shelton gave a better account of himself, scoring an elusive first-round win over Hugo Gaston and then capitalizing from a retirement from Japan’s Kei Nishikori to reach the third round.
There, the American lefty met an in-form Felix Auger-Aliassime, who has won 11 matches on clay this season. The Canadian proved a step ahead of the 21-year-old, who could not adapt to the playing circumstances as rain required the postponement of their match on Friday while behind 4-5 in the opening set.
On resumption, the match was scheduled for completion on Court Suzanne Lenglen, and Auger-Aliassime dropped three games for the remaining of the competition to reach the second week.
Shelton can still be proud of his efforts after a tremendous clay-court swing yielded a maiden title on the surface in Houston in early April. But he claimed that his performance was largely impacted by a shoulder ailment caused by playing in chilly temperatures and with “muddy balls.”
“I simply feel like a pitcher who’s thrown too many pitches, way over his pitch count. A lot of rain delays. A lot of on and off. Everybody’s coping with it, not just me.”
Shelton as quoted by the Associated Press
“Playing a set last night with soaked balls, filthy balls, it kind of just, I guess, aggravated my shoulder a little bit. But I went out there and did what I could today and gave 100%.”
While several of Shelton’s higher-ranked colleagues will return to Paris to compete at the Olympic Games, the Florida Gators alumni has bid Roland Garros farewell for the next 12 months because he opted out from playing on the dirt in July and will instead focus on the North American hard-court circuit.
