Wimbledon star leaves Annabel Croft red-faced as he corrects BBC interview error
Wimbledon quarter-finalist Ben Shelton left Annabel Croft red-faced after correcting her claim he had been a "quarterbacker" during his American football days. The BBC host was congratulating the American on reaching the last eight at SW19 for the first time in his young career.
The rising tennis star had just clinched a spot in the quarter-finals following a hard-fought 3-6 6-1 7-6(1) 7-5 win over Italy's Lorenzo Sonego. Croft was keen to explore how Shelton's experience in college American football might influence his tennis game, with Shelton having juggled both tennis and gridiron before dedicating himself to the former at the University of Florida.
Asking about his time playing another sport besides tennis, Croft remarked: "I was reading that in college you loved your American football and you were a quarterbacker? I hope I got that right. What are the comparisons between tennis and American football?"
The American, ranked No. 10 in the world, quickly sported a broad smile at Croft's "quarterbacker" mention and humorously responded: "I am not sure many people in the crowd know what that is, they use that brown, oval-shaped ball, sometimes they kick it between the uprights.
"I grew up playing quarterback, or 'quarterbacker'... either way. Probably the only thing that is a direct correlation between tennis is the serve, as you guys can probably see. That's kind of the one thing that I took from football onto the tennis court."
Spectators on Court 1 were left in stitches by Shelton's response. He had to pause to wipe his face with his towel before he could continue answering, while Croft grinned sheepishly and played with her hair.
"Obviously I have always loved athletics," Shelton continued. "Playing in a team sports, something bigger than yourself. Now I am obviously playing an individual sport but I have a team supporting me that I work with every day so that's the most important thing to me.
"I don't want to be out here by myself, I want to be doing it with people that I love and I have a lot of people that I love over there."
Shelton also named his dad, Bryan, who was a professional tennis player and reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in 1994, as his inspiration for his style of play on grass, declaring: "He was in the round of 16 here 31 years ago, he was a serve-and-volleyer.
"Big serve, came forward all the time, he would like to see me come forward a little bit more than I am. My argument is that I think I am better than him from the baseline, and he had a better serve than me, maybe.
"So he kind of inspires the way that I am playing on grass, the way I am moving forward, the way I am cutting off angles, wanting to mix in the serve-and-volley style, the vintage style of tennis every once and a while and be a bit more unpredictable on the court.
"He is the guy who puts our gameplans together and so far, so good."
Sonego was the first player to take a set off Shelton at Wimbledon but the Italian was ultimately outplayed and sent home by the Florida-born star.
On the match, Shelton said: 'It was really difficult. I feel like every time I play Lorenzo Sonego, every time I need a big point he comes out with a highlight shot. Maybe it's the same vice-versa as well.
"It was a lot of fun. I'm getting very comfortable out here on court one, I love playing in front of you guys."
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