U.S. Open semi-finalist Ben Shelton’s local connection
HUNTSVILLE- The tennis action will be fast and furious this weekend at the Athletic Club Alabama, located on Leeman Ferry Road in Huntsville, as the major tennis facility in North Alabama will host its annual Club Championships on both the indoor and outdoor courts. To go along with the hotly contested action on the courts will be the fact all TVs in the building will be turned to ESPN for the U.S. Open men’s semi-final match which will feature Ben Shelton vs. Frances Tiafoe with the winner advancing to the finals on Sunday.
Shelton is the son of Bryan Shelton a Huntsville native who played his high school tennis at Randolph High before a superb collegiate career at Georgia Tech where he was an All-American and soon onto the professional ranks where he peaked as a top-60 singles player. Since 2023, the elder Shelton has taken his son under his wings as his coach. Friday’s match will be Ben Shelton’s third major semi-final appearance, second at the U.S. Open.
The 23-year old Shelton advanced to the semi-final with a marathon tussle against reigning Open Champion Carlos Alcaraz in what is the latest finished match in U.S. Open history. The dramatic, high-stakes match ended with a big ace from Shelton at 3:33 a.m. and an unforgettable moment in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The match lasted an overall time of 4 hours, 28 minutes.
Shelton played at Buchholz High School and the University Of Florida, both located in Gainesville, Fla. where Bryan Shelton was head coach of Florida’s tennis team and led the Gators to a National Championship.
“Ben and Bryan have visited our club a couple times and I remember they hit Court 10 here and practiced,” said Eddie Jacques, owner and head pro at the Athletic Club Alabama, and who watched Bryan play at the same club when he was a young player growing up in Huntsville. “They both would visit Ben’s grandparents here in Huntsville. I remember years ago Bryan and I played an exhibition match at the Huntsville Hospital Foundation fundraiser the same year Arthur Ashe attended as special guest.”
The public is invited to drop by the Athletic Club Alabama to watch the local players continue their quest for a local championship and to join in the many others who will be glued to the big screen televisions 11:00 a.m. start of the semi-final match of the U.S. Open of No. 8 seeded Shelton facing No. 11 seeded Tiafoe with a certain North Alabama connection.
