Ben Shelton has not played a great deal of tennis since his run to the US Open final.
This represented the best two-week stretch of his young career, but the consequences of such a busy period have been evident over the last month.
The American has won just one match across the two events he has played, including a Davis Cup tie which his team lost, and a second-round exit in Shanghai.
Ben Shelton will be keen to right those wrongs in Vienna, where he will face compatriot Aleksandar Kovacevic.
How long do you think Alexander Zverev keeps the number one ranking?
He is now guaranteed to be year end number one after Carlos Alcaraz’s shock loss in Shanghai…
Speaking to the press ahead of his return to action, the 24-year-old was discussing the current state of the ATP Tour.
And, when one journalist made a comment about Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s dominance fading, Shelton had to disagree.
Ben Shelton dismisses ‘unfair’ claim about Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
Asked whether he felt that their injuries had opened up opportunities for the younger generation, Shelton laughed as he replied: “I mean, they won two of the four slams this year; Sinner won five Masters 1000s. I don’t know that their dominance has faded, you know?”
He then predicted: “I think that they’ll probably both be very healthy when it comes to the Australian Open next year, and it’s been sad for tennis, the time that they haven’t been able to play this year. But, you know, I wouldn’t go that far.
“I think there is a lot of young players who are competing more and more for bigger titles. But, you know, I think to say that they’re fading, that’s unfair.
“But, when Sinner played this year, did he win?”
With one Grand Slam title and five Masters 1000 titles, he knew the answer was yes.
Shelton also spoke about returning to Basel, adding: “You’ve got to take it one match at a time.
“This is a tournament, a surface that I play well on. I enjoy playing and competing here. I think it’s one of the best 500 events. The crowd is really good, the atmosphere is great with the court being light and having the darkness all around. I think it’s cool and unique for the tournaments that we play.
“I’m just looking forward to hopefully making a deep run here, but pretty much focus on taking one match at a time. Let’s see what happens.”
Shelton admitted he had one big regret after his Shanghai Masters loss. He will hope to have learned from that quickly.
Ben Shelton avoids disaster Basel Open draw
Just a few days ago, the Swiss Indoors draw looked disastrous for Shelton.
It marked extremely poor luck that a player who would have been so desperate for a deep run in Basel had been drawn against Casper Ruud in the very first round.
Such is the strength of ATP 500 events nowadays, as Masters 1000s continue to lose their allure, the player list here in the Swiss capital is stacked.
As such, the three-time major finalist found himself unseeded, and thus a devastating banana skin for a top-ranked rival.
Fortunately for Shelton, due to the many withdrawals the tournament has faced, Ruud has now moved up to a seeded position, and his first-round opponent has been weakened.
