Ben Shelton was forced to retire from his third-round match at the US Open because of a left shoulder injury.
On Friday, August 29, the No. 6-seed was playing against Adrian Mannarino and had to walk away after three hours and seven minutes of play. Mannarino won the match with a scoreline of 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, ret.
The injury was perhaps caused when he landed on his left arm after tracking down a ball in the corner on the final point to win the third set.
Mannarino, a 37-year-old from France, ended up with his first victory in 23 career matches against top-10 players in Grand Slam tournaments.
Following the match, the Frenchman noted, "When he started to have pain, he was leading in the match, honestly, he would have probably won that match."
With Shelton's exit, the hope for the US to secure its first men's major champion since Andy Roddick won the 2003 US Open also diminished.
Another American tennis player, No. 17 seed Frances Tiafoe, who had reached the semifinals in Flushing Meadows in two of the previous three years, was eliminated with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7) loss to German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff.
Notably, Ben 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.
