Sep 07, 2023 at 02:52 PM ETNEW YORK — When it comes to Ben Shelton and the rest of the men who will be participating in the U.S. Open semifinals on Friday, it's quite obvious that one of these is not like the others.
Shelton, a 20-year-old who was born in Georgia and won an NCAA singles title for the University of Florida in 2022, has yet to earn a Grand Slam trophy, let alone the U.S. Open. Djokovic owns 23 major championships overall, Alcaraz two and Medvedev one. Djokovic won titles in New York in 2011, 2015 and 2018 and was the runner-up on six other occasions; Medvedev left as champion in 2021 and was the runner-up in 2019; Alcaraz is the defending champion.
“I’m definitely going to try to bring some things to the table that are different and hopefully disruptive on Friday,” Shelton said. But he did not sound overwhelmed by the prospect of trying to test his intimidating left-handed serves — he leads the tournament with 76 aces and a top speed of 149 mph — against Djokovic, who is widely considered the top returner in the game and has won 44% of his opponent’s service games in the tournament .