{"id":1863318,"date":"2026-04-03T09:30:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T06:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1863318"},"modified":"2026-04-03T09:30:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T06:30:45","slug":"andy-roddick-makes-toughest-surface-prediction-for-ben-shelton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1863318","title":{"rendered":"Andy Roddick makes &#8216;toughest surface&#8217; prediction for Ben Shelton"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">Andy Roddick makes \u2018toughest surface\u2019 prediction for Ben Shelton<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/sam-cooper\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Sam Cooper                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"03 Apr 2026 10:30 AM\" data-ps-date=\"03 Apr 2026 10:30 AM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1775208645\"><br \/>\n                            03 Apr 2026 10:30 AM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_dark.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 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space-x-5\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 hidden dark:block h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_dark.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto !my-0 dark:hidden h-6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/content\/themes\/tennis365-sportsui\/img\/png\/preferred_source_badge_light.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"76\" height=\"24\"><br \/>\n                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn-hidden\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"Andy Roddick makes \u2018toughest surface\u2019 prediction for Ben Shelton\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ben-shelton-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Ben Shelton\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                Ben Shelton is beginning his clay court season with a tournament in Houston.                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\"><!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p>Andy Roddick has predicted that clay will be the \u201ctoughest surface\u201d for Ben Shelton as it neutralises the speed of his serve.<\/p>\n<p>As tennis turns its focus to the clay season, Roddick spoke about why the 23-year-old may struggle in comparison to his colleagues.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of the slams, the clay of the French has seen Shelton reach only as far as the fourth round while he has made at least the quarters in every other major.<\/p>\n<p>As for titles, Shelton\u2019s one on the ATP Tour so far has come on the hard court of the Canadian Open.<\/p>\n<p>The American is currently competing in the Men\u2019s Clay Court Championships in Houston but Roddick said on his podcast that one of Shelton\u2019s most effective tools may prove less so on clay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, that serve translates anywhere,\u201d Roddick said. \u201cWhen you could serve 140 and then kick it over someone\u2019s head both ways. That tends to work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis ball flight on his forehand naturally has a lot of spin on it. You know, I think as the surfaces have become kind of more mono-surface, I think the entire thing is like, can Ben beat me today with his backhand? Which is tough because there\u2019s only so many people that can neutralise the serve.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn clay, people have more time to find space over there, right? Whereas, like, if his serve comes even quicker, you don\u2019t have time to take a full swing and redirect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, I think clay is just gonna be the toughest surface for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shelton started his clay season in impressive fashion as he registered 21 aces in a victory over Zhang Zhizhen, setting up a quarter final match against Thiago Agust\u00edn Tirante.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was my first match in almost a year on clay,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel that comfortable playing from the baseline yet, it\u2019s just something that\u2019s going to take time and take a few matches. I knew I had to be effective with my serve tonight and hit a few aces, and I\u2019m happy that I did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shelton is the No 1 seed for the tournament but has difficult opponents in the form of Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe ahead of him.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End --><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andy Roddick makes \u2018toughest surface\u2019 prediction for Ben Shelton Sam Cooper 03 Apr 2026 10:30 AM Ben Shelton is beginning his clay court season with a tournament in Houston. Andy Roddick has predicted that clay will be the \u201ctoughest surface\u201d for Ben Shelton as it neutralises the speed of his serve. As tennis turns its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1863318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1863318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1863318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1863318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1863318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}