Why Ben Shelton couldn’t serve his way past Adrian Mannarino

When considering candidates for the next American man to win a Grand Slam title, many point to Ben Shelton. The 22-year-old is blessed with lights-out power, athleticism to spare and unshakable confidence. And with each tournament, he seems to add new wrinkles to his dynamic all-court game.

The cornerstone of Big Ben’s game is his howitzer serve. The 6-foot-4 southpaw uses an usually pronounced knee bend to spring up into contact to deliver bullets that top 140 MPH, and twisting sliders with wicked action. If Shelton does ever capture a Grand Slam title, his serve will undoubtedly be an integral part.

In his third-round match against Adrian Mannarino, Shelton clocked 11 aces and won 76% of his first-serve points, which is exactly on par with his season average. However, he won only 41% of his 2^nd serve points (below his 54% average) and was broken three times over four sets. A shoulder injury derailed Shelton before a fifth set could be played; he retired and lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6.

Even with the unsatisfying conclusion, Shelton's serve is a remarkable shot worth exploring. As is the way in which Mannarino managed to blunt it, hang around and eventually pull off the upset. Here are some things to learn from their encounter:

To Bend Or Not To Bend

When Shelton serves it’s as though he’s on a pogo stick. He gets down in a deep squat and explodes up at the ball. His contact point is higher than nearly everyone else on tour, which allows for his wide serves to be so effective.

“Ben has the most powerful back hip vertical displacement,” says Mark Kovacs, a high-performance coach who specializes in the biomechanics of the serve. “It is not only his power, but his alignment. He comes out of his bend legs straight upward first before lower body rotation.”

But Shelton is one of one. The trouble for most mere mortals is synching up all the moving parts with such an extreme knee bend. Plus, going that far down necessitates a lightning quick rebound back up or else losing all the stored energy and draining pace from the serve.

Although most can’t—and probably shouldn’t—emulate Shelton’s move, Kovacs does recommend engaging the back leg and pushing upward into the serve. Just be mindful to find a low point on the knee bend that works for your game.

Stay Loose

Shelton’s high jump wouldn’t matter match if his upper body was out of sorts. In fact, there are countless big servers who implement much more of a subtle knee bend. But there is something they all share.

“Ben has fantastic thoracic spine position and arm action,” says Kovacs. “The range of motion and position is what every 140-MPH server has in common.”

Even though there’s so much energy in Shelton's serve, there’s little tension. After he makes contact, Shelton has exemplary internal shoulder rotation and forearm pronation. Kovacs notes that this position is something that can be a goal of any player looking to get a live arm. Mannarino is not as brawny or explosive as Shelton, but because he hits these same marks with his motion, he’s still able to touch 120 MPH with a relaxed, fluid swing.

Mix it Up

When you have a fastball as good as Shelton’s, it’s tempting to use it on every serve. But few players are better at absorbing an opponent’s pace than Mannarino. The veteran has a gifted pair of hands and uses a racquet strung like a lacrosse stick to slingshot the ball back with little effort and less of a swing.

Shelton has a full arsenal of serves, including a nasty slice into the ad side and a wide kick into the deuce court—both of which he can hit extremely short in the box. The heavy kickers got up high on Mannarino’s backhand, drawing bothered replies. Shelton had as much, if not more success using that as his first serve over his heater.

Mannarino made good use of the tactic as well. He varied his serving positions, particularly on the ad court, and juggled between carving slices wide or going big down the T. Both players used the serves to create space in the court to exploit on the next shot.

Don’t Throw Roses

Shelton actually won more points than Mannarino on return games: 47 to 35. However, he let Mannarino off the hook with errors at inopportune times. Most notably, he committed nine unforced errors on return of serves (versus just two for Mannarino), and seven on second serves. Return of serve errors—or “roses” for short—are gifts that can haunt a player in a close match. If Shelton wasn’t so generous, he could’ve potentially closed the match out before damaging his shoulder and kept his Grand Slam title hopes alive.