American Ben Shelton has been playing top-level tennis at the US Open for the past couple of weeks, booking himself a ticket to a semifinal matchup with fellow American Frances Tiafoe -- but what was the star's high school experience like?
Shelton attended F.W. Buchholz High School in Gainesville, Fl., starting his high school career just a few years after he began playing tennis regularly at 12 years old. He dominated, as one might expect: during his sophomore season in 2019, he strung together a 29-1 record. He won the 4A individual state singles title without dropping a single set in the state tournament.
USA TODAY Network's Gainesville Sun named him their back-to-back Boys Tennis Player of the Year his freshman and sophomore seasons.
Many of
his accomplishments, however, happened away from Buchholz. Like many professional tennis players, he spent much of his playing time as a teenager on the junior tennis circuit and in USTA tournaments, headlined by a runner-up finish at the 2020 USTA Boys 18s Winter Nationals. His international junior ranking peaked at No. 306 in 2020, and his USTA Boys' 18s division ranking peaked at No. 3.
As part of the small but growing number of professional tennis players who played college tennis before turning pro, Shelton graduated high school a year early to star on the University of Florida tennis team under his father, head coach Bryan Shelton. As a freshman, he led the Gators to their first-ever NCAA men's tennis team title before claiming the national singles title the following year.
Tiafoe and Shelton will meet in their blockbuster semifinal match on Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Where did Ben Shelton go to high school?
