Southpaw Shelton emulates Nadal and creates waves in AO 2025

Shelton, expanding out to the open era, is just the eighth left -handed man to reach the last four on both hard lane, and join Nadal, Roscoe Tanner, Rod Laver, Guillermo Vilas, Tony Roche, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe.

Only at AO, Shelton is only the third left hand made the semi -finals, after Nadal and Fernando Verdasco.

Shelton, 22, is the youngest left -handed player to reach this phase of an AO since Nadal did it at the age of 21 in 2008, and should he shock the culprit, he will only be the second Southpaw after the spanish to reach an AO Final in the 21st century.

Flying the flag

This is the first time a left-handed American man will appear in an AO semi-final since Ben Testerman in 1984.

But it is not as if male players-right-handed or left-handed-from the United States has been very successful at AO since the turn of the century. Over the past 25 years, other Agassi in 2000, 2001 and 2003 is the only American man to have won the AO title.

In contrast, three Americans – Agassi (1995), Pete Sampras (1994 and 1997) and Jim Courier (1992 and 1993) – demanded an AO crown between the tournament that switched to Melbourne Park in 1988 and late 1999.