Former world number one Andy Roddick criticized Ben Shelton following the American's first-round loss at Wimbledon. Shelton, seeded fourth, fell to Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen in five sets.
Roddick spoke on the Served Podcast about the defeat. "Ben was playing great," he said. "Loses to qualifier Virtanen, 150 in the world. Like that one has to like be, you know, you’re four or five in the world. You lose that match. You kind of have to take a look in the mirror."
Shelton converted only one of twelve break points during the match. Virtanen, ranked around 150th, produced his best performance to advance.
Other American players also exited early. Taylor Fritz lost in straight sets to Alexander Zverev while dealing with a knee injury. Frances Tiafoe dropped a five-set match to Alexander Bublik after missing nine set points in the third set.
Roddick remains the last American man to reach a Wimbledon final, a feat he achieved in 2009.