NEW YORK — Ben Shelton had just acrobatically taken the third set of his US Open third-round match, getting up from a tumble to the court during the point and then throwing his left arm into the air to encourage cheers after he won it.
Just minutes later, he began feeling pain that would ultimately force him to stop playing during a match for the first time in his career.
Shelton, seeded No. 6, quit after losing the fourth set Friday against Adrian Mannarino because of a left shoulder injury, and No. 17 Frances Tiafoe lost shortly after to leave just two U.S. men remaining of the 23 who began the tournament.
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Speaking quietly and without many specifics, Shelton said he couldn’t pinpoint what caused the injury or what it was. He had never stopped in 178 professional matches.
“Usually, I’ll play through anything and just kind of find a way,” he said. “And whether it’s sickness or injury, like, if I can stay out there, I can stay out there. I never felt anything like this before.”
Shelton landed on his left arm after lunging to track down a ball in the corner on the final point to win the third set. Early in the fourth, the 2023 US Open semifinalist began wincing and said to his coach’s box, “I did something to my shoulder. I don’t know what it is.”
He received treatment in the middle of the set, when the trainer rubbed some cream on his left shoulder, and tried to shorten the points afterward by consistently attacking the net. But after Mannarino won the set, Shelton was visited again by the trainer and called off the match, leaving the court with a towel over his head and tears in his eyes.
Mannarino, a 37-year-old from France, earned his first victory in 23 career matches against top-10 players in Grand Slam tournaments.
“When he started to have pain, he was leading in the match,” Mannarino said. “Honestly, he would have probably won that match.”
Shelton had been a heavy favorite after coming in with a 14-2 record this summer on hard courts and winning the title in Toronto, where he routed Mannarino early in the tournament.
“I was playing really well. I was in form, a lot of confidence,” Shelton said. “Just so many things to be happy with the way that I was playing, moving on the court, competing.”
He was one of the best hopes to give the U.S. its first men’s major champion since Andy Roddick won the 2003 US Open. So was Tiafoe, who had reached the semifinals in Flushing Meadows in two of the previous three years. He was eliminated with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7) loss to German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff.
Tiafoe was trying to become the first American man since Andre Agassi from 1994 to 1999 to reach the fourth round of the US Open for six straight years.
“It’s going to be hard to swallow how I played today and being out of the US Open, for sure, this early,” Tiafoe said.
Only No. 4 Taylor Fritz, last year’s runner-up who beat Swiss qualifier Jerome Kym in four sets Friday night, and No. 14 Tommy Paul remain among American men.
Shelton’s left-handed serve is one of the most powerful in tennis, and his 140 mph ace in the first set matched the third fastest of this US Open.
He still cranked up some hard ones after the injury but repeatedly grabbed at the shoulder after — or even in the midst of — points.
Bryan Shelton, his father and coach, told the 22-year-old to come forward, hoping to end the points quickly. Ben Shelton had 13 serve-and-volley points in the fourth set after only three in the first three sets, and he was at the net for a missed volley when Mannarino broke him for a 4-3 lead in the fourth.
Shelton fought off four set points in his next service game before Mannarino won the set. Mannarino, ranked No. 77, left the court for a bathroom break as Shelton sat on his bench, with his father motioning his arms to tell his son to call it off, which he did when Mannarino returned.
“I’m 37 years old,” Mannarino said. “It’s the first time I’m winning a match from the toilet.”
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