Ben Shelton v Carlos Alcaraz: Tuesday Night Cinema

You are proabably opening this article and thinking, "what could Rav possibly know about tennis of all sports? No shot this dude actually watches tennis? IT LITERALLY SAYS 'RAV: CFB + NBA ON YOUR AUTHOR PROFILE LMAOOO" Well surprise surprise, MF. You could consider me the most locked in casual tennis watcher of all casual tennis watchers. I went to my first ever tennis event (the Dallas ATP 500 💀) back in February which is a mostly American event and watched Ben Shelton take down Taylor Fritz for one of his 4 singles titles this year. I distinctly remember watching the three goats of tennis (Federer Nadal Djokovic) on TV and on Sportscenter as a kid because all I watched as a kid was ESPN and sports 24/7/365. 

I don't come from a family that played tennis but I've always respected the sport, and now Gootz and I always have some tennis event on at home late night when there's nothing else to have on. And let me just tell you: Gootz and I had a ton of talks about going to this event in New York. We would be there right now but the plans fell through. And now we've got an unbelievable quarterfinal match between Shelton (my boy) and the best player in the sport: Carlos Alcaraz. Massive MASSIVE FOMO. Let's get into it.

Carlos Alcaraz is in his first tournament after missing most of the summer with a wrist injury that had people concerned he wouldn't come back the same. Well, he's definitely the same. He's lost just one set thru his first four rounds in New York and has been trying to use his forehand way more than before. But one area where this injury has potentially labored Alcaraz is his serve. His average MPH on serves is down around 7 MPH compared to pre-injury which obviously gives opponents a much better chance to return a more quality ball back to him.

Fittingly, this is an area that Ben Shelton has said he has improved throughout the year and from the previous major (the French Open):

Ben Shelton is 0-3 all-time vs Alcaraz, but none of those three matchups have had this many indicating signs that Shelton can stay in this deep into the match. Although Alcaraz has cruised his way into the quarterfinals so far and really has had no issues with his wrist injury, you never know if this injury could pop back up in a longer match against a much tougher opponent. Shelton is playing his best tennis yet, winning four single titles already this year, and publicly praising how he thinks his game has improved throughout the year. He has two Top 10 wins (both aganst Taylor Fritz), and as an American playing at home under the lights who feeds off the crowd ... this could be one of the best chances Ben Shelton has to beat Alcaraz throughout his entire career. If he can use his booming serve behind his 6'4" 195 lb frame to continue stealing points on Aces and force Carlos to his backhand on rallies, he can stay in this match.

The clear look for me in this match is the Over Total Games. The line is set at 39.5, which is way higher than his previous four matches (29 vs Tommy Paul, 26 in R3, 33 in R2 and 30 in R1) and tells me the books are expecting Shelton to seriously give him a good match here. 

I will be seated on my couch for this entire match. It's a good time to tell you I am a huge Ben Shelton guy and it is obviously hard not to love Carlos Alcaraz. Take the over 39.5 games, sprinkle the ML (+315) and root for a great match that ends with the American taking the upset over one of the world's best on home court.