It became the lasting image of the night, and when Ben Shelton retires one day — probably a long time from now — it might still be remembered as his introduction to the world.
There Shelton stood early Wednesday morning, at the center of the Arthur Ashe Stadium court after his four-set win over No. 10 Frances Tiafoe, holding an imaginary phone to his ear, listening for a moment and then slamming it down on an imaginary receiver.
Shelton described the call — to Tiafoe, maybe, or to anyone who doubted a 20-year-old American could reach the U.S. Open semifinals — as being “dialed in.”
Unseeded and ranked 47th, Shelton had already captivated spectators with his powerful serve, rallies and energetic celebrations as Tuesday turned into Wednesday.
That might’ve been his most enthusiastic act of all.
But Shelton didn’t stray from himself in the moment or cave to the spotlight by flashing emotion that hadn’t been revealed before.
The budding American tennis star has always had a powerful serve, plenty of emotion and room to develop.
“That’s his make-up,” former University of Florida associated head coach Tanner Stump told The Post regarding Shelton’s emotion. “That’s his DNA.”
It’s an entirely different emotion than Shelton’s father and coach, Bryan, shows, Stump added, but the duo has paired together for an improbable U.S. Open run that will continue Friday against No. 2 Novak Djokovic.
And after this stretch, which included Shelton making history alongside fellow American Tiafoe in the first U.S. Open quarterfinal featuring two black men, it won’t be long before his current ATP ranking skyrockets.
For as much as No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz has emerged as the future of tennis, and for as much as Djokovic is still its present, Shelton has issued a reminder that he at least belongs in both discussions.
“This kid’s the real deal,” Florida men’s tennis volunteer assistant Scott Perelman told The Post.
When Florida hired Bryan Shelton, a professional tennis player in the 1980s and 1990s, as its men’s tennis coach in 2012, tennis wasn’t even on the younger Shelton’s radar.
He told Perelman “that’s my dad’s thing,” and dabbled in football instead.
Shelton eventually faded toward tennis, though, and Bryan implemented an “inside-out” approach.
He didn’t let his son travel internationally for ITF tournaments because he hadn’t become the best player in Florida.
Bryan wanted Ben and his sister, Emma, to have a “normal life,” too.
“If you can dominate in your inner circle, then you can move out a little bit further one step at a time,” Bryan said Wednesday. “We really tried to never skip steps.”
In a way, that shielded Shelton from the youth spotlight, allowing him to craft his skill set.
He joined Bryan’s program at Florida, and the coaching staff fine-tuned his serve and footwork — ensuring that Shelton could win points within the first four shots.
It didn’t necessarily involve technical changes, Perelman said, but instead “how to pitch rather than just hit the serve and be obsessed about power.”
That meant different spins and different speeds.
It meant changing his spacing and positioning.
“[Pitchers] don’t just have one item that they use,” Stump said. “They’re able to throw different things, so when you throw a 95 mph fastball, it seems a lot better than it actually is because you’ve also thrown the 75 mph changeup that looks the same.”
So when Shelton strung together two 149 mph serves (just 3 mph shy of the U.S. Open record set by Andy Roddick in 2004) against Tommy Paul on Sunday, it shocked Perelman.
“I had never seen that in my life,” Perelman said. “I don’t know that I’ll see it again unless it’s [Shelton].”
It still took Shelton time to piece everything together at Florida.
He learned to refine his energy.
His father said their slogan — “switching it on and switching it off” — was inspired by how Tiger Woods carried himself during tournaments.
At the end of his freshman year, Shelton earned the clinching point in the Gators’ NCAA title, and he won the individual championship the following year.
But the plan entering last summer was to return to Florida for a third year.
When associate head coach Mat Cloer accepted a job with the Gators, he and Bryan discussed visions for the 2023 season that included the younger Shelton.
Ben started the summer of 2022 ranked No. 547, then pulled off upsets at the Western & Southern Open against then-No. 56 Lorenzo Sonego and then-No. 5 Casper Ruud.
“He wanted to turn pro, and then he went ahead and proved to all the rest of us that it was time for him to turn pro,” Perelman said.
Perelman, Cloer and Stump all said that Bryan’s decision to leave Florida and coach his son wasn’t surprising.
Eight months after Shelton won four matches and advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals, he has already surpassed that career-best performance with his father guiding from his coaching box in Flushing.
The recent success won’t guarantee any repeat runs in the future, though.
It doesn’t mean Shelton will achieve anything close to what Roddick did, or that he’ll become the first American to win a Grand Slam title since 2003 and emerge as the elusive American successor.
But Shelton wants to climb the ATP rankings until he reaches No. 1, Cloer said.
The accompanying passion will only inject excitement into matches.
And given everything else Shelton has already accomplished, “that’s the scary part for the rest of the world and the great hope for American tennis,” Stump said.
“It’s just like the bigger the stage, the better the opponent, the better he gets as well,” Stump said.
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