Ben's win at the Western Southern Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati was amazing this Wednesday afternoon. Ruud is a clay court player, but the win by Ben this afternoon on the hard courts of Cincinnati showed his tremendous professional potential. Ben plays Cam Norrie the ninth seed tomorrow in the third round. His serve and ground game have been exceptional all week.
Very happy for Ben to be doing so well against top ranked players. What does this mean for coming back next season at UF? When does that decision need to be made?
Have been watching on tv when they have had him on. Also caught his interview by Tennis Channel. Obviously, they questioned him on going pro. He gave the standard answer about evaluating in the near future. My guess is that he does turn pro - but really no idea.
According to this interview, he will decide after this week, i.e. in time to collect his winnings from Cincinnati. FWIW, he has earned at least 84k this week plus has a minimum guaranteed 75k or so coming just for showing up at the US Open if he turns pro. OT: he also mentions that he's dating Anna Hall and she recently decided to turn pro as well.
Ben and Anna Hall have been a couple for a while. Yes Ben would have to turn down some prize money won this summer by the end of the year, minus tournament expenses. However if he does decide to return to Florida for his junior year, there are NIL opportunities which will be available to him.
Ben ran into a true hard court player. The first two opponents he faced were clay courters. He definitely was dealt a lesson by Cam Norrie.
Perhaps with the official announcement that Anna is turning pro but remaining in Gainesville to train bodes well for Ben coming back for another year of UF team tennis? Either way we will find out shortly. Keeping hope alive!
Yeah, I watched a bit vs Norrie. It was a really bad showing. Not sure if he was sick or something or maybe starting to feel the weight of newfound exposure and external expectations. Norrie is also a former #1 collegian, now top 10ish in the world, so a good match for Ben to see the level of consistency and professionalism needed to get to that level. Let's see what happens - I guess even if he maintains his eligibility, he'll still play mostly a pro schedule. More likely, I think, he turns pro but, like Anna, also stays based in Gainesville and can practice with the team when he's in town. Realistically, I don't see us as a likely NC contender this season anyways and having an active top-100 player (which I expect Ben to be a year from now, if not sooner) to occasionally practice with and learn from will be a nice selling point for the program going forward.
Agree with you G2MGA that Anna deciding to continue school at UF and train mostly in Gainesville bodes well, even though as a professional she can no longer help our track program. Another factor for Ben returning in my mind is the fact that he will now have to develop leadership qualities. The past two years Ben has been overshadowed in the leadership department by all the veterans that left us last spring. On the upcoming men's gator tennis team Ben will emerge as the defacto leader. Practical application of leadership training is an important life skill to have, and Ben will get that opportunity if he returns to the team after the U.S. Open. I say that because Ben has always been a "team first" kind of guy. He loves the team atmosphere, and in tournament tennis, which is individual oriented in nature, none of that chemistry exists. No one knows for sure what Ben Shelton's decision on whether to turn pro will be, however I think I will go out on a limb and say I feel he will come back for one more year.
