American and world No. 6 Ben Shelton's promising U.S. Open run came to a crushing finish on Friday afternoon when he was forced to retire from his third-round contest vs. Adrian Mannarino of France due to a shoulder injury.
The match was tied at 2–2 at the time of his exit, and Mannarino is convinced Shelton probably would've won had he remained healthy.
“When he started to have pain, he was leading in the match,” Mannarino said later, in his on-court interview. “Honestly, he would’ve probably won that match. That’s unfortunate for him, and lucky for me. I don’t really know what to say right now. But I’m happy to get through and I wish him the best, of course.
“I was having good fun on the court, there were some really long rallies,” he continued. “I was losing some of them, winning some of them, but I think it was a really cool match to play. Ben is playing really well, he kicked my a-- at the beginning of the summer, he's such an amazing player. But it was a great match. I was enjoying my time on the court, even if I was losing, it was a pretty cool match.”
Those are quite classy remarks from the 37-year-old Frenchman, who didn't necessarily have to admit that he got such a lucky break or that he was having fun regardless of the outcome. Surely that won't take away all of Shelton's disappointment about having to walk away, but hopefully it helps, at least somewhat.
Mannarino now advances to round four, where he will face Czech player Jiri Lehecka.
More on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Adrian Mannarino Paid Classy Tribute to Ben Shelton After American Retired From U.S. Open.
