NEW YORK — American Ben Shelton, thought to be one of the favorites for the US Open outside of top-seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner and No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz, retired from his third-round match against Adrian Mannarino on Friday, Aug. 29, because of a shoulder injury.
Shelton, the No. 6 seed, gutted it out for the three-hour match and had to retire with the match square at two sets a piece. It was the first time in 178 career matches that Shelton was forced to retire.
Shelton said he couldn't pinpoint when he got hurt, as he was healthy going into the match.
"Really high," Shelton said after the match when he asked what his level of pain was. "I'm not sure. You know, I never retired before. I'm not a guy who would retire if I could continue. Even though I was in pain, I was just kind of in that competitive mindset of trying to find a way and push through it."
Shelton was the first of two ranked American men to fall at the US Open on Friday. A short time after Shelton's loss, No. 17 Frances Tiafoe was stunned by qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, 7-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7) in his third-round match.
