Ben Shelton has hit back at various Australian Open broadcasters for continued “disrespect” towards several players.
At the end of his post-match press conference following a victory against Lorenzo Sonego that saw him advance to the Australian Open semifinal, Shelton took a moment to address the “negativity” towards players from certain broadcasters.
The American referenced the incident between Novak Djokovic and Channel 9 that occurred last week where reporter Tony Jones, who has since apologised for his comments, mocked the 24-time Grand Slam champion in front of Serbian fans at the Australian Open, calling him names such as ‘overrated’, and “a has-been’.
Djokovic avoided his on-court post match interview with Jim Courier after defeating Jiri Lehecka, stating later in a video message on social media that he did so because of the comments made by Jones.
Ben Shelton said, “I don’t think the guy who mocked Novak was just a single event–I’ve noticed it with different people, not just myself.
“I noticed it with Learner Tien in one of his matches when he beat Medvedev. I think his post match interview was embarrassing and disrespectful.”
The Tien interview mentioned drew negative attention from fans online, with one YouTube comment stating “you can’t even call this an interview, he didn’t even ask questions” and another saying the interaction between the interviewer and the 19-year-old was “a bit of a disservice to the quality of tennis just played.” Numerous comments on the official Australian Open YouTube video called for the interviewer to be fired.
Shelton, who became the second active American man to reach multiple Grand Slam semifinals, said he feels he has been on the receiving end of similar negativity.
“There’s been comments that have been made to me in post-match interviews by a couple different guys,” said the 22-year-old.
“Whether it’s, ‘Hey Monfils is old enough to be your dad, maybe he is your dad.’ Or today on the court it was, ‘Hey Ben how does it feel that no matter who you play in your next match no one is going to be cheering for you?’ It may be true but I don’t think it’s respectful from a guy I’ve never met before.
“I feel like broadcasters should be helping us grow our sport and help these athletes who just won matches on the biggest stage enjoy one of their biggest moments–I feel like there’s just been a lot of negativity and I feel like that needs to change.”
Interesting end to Ben Shelton’s press conference.
Unprompted, he took a moment to tear into the quality of local broadcasting and specifically on-court interviewing at #AusOpen. pic.twitter.com/ig76VrKq2C
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 22, 2025
The American’s semifinal opponent is World No.1 Jannik Sinner, who defeated Alex de Minaur in straight sets on Wednesday.
Main Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
