Earlier today, a massive upset occurred at the Davis Cup. The strong American unit was up against Australia in the quarterfinal of the tournament. While the USA was expected to dig deep in the event, their campaign came to a premature halt as Australia caused a big upset, defeating them 2-1. The cause? Well, it all boils down to selection of players and that’s what has stirred a major controversy.

The American team boasted two strong doubles stars in the form of Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek. The duo had even won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics earlier this year. After Taylor Fritz leveled the tie 1-1 by winning his match, it was expected that Ram and Krajicek would step on the court. Instead, team USA captain, Bob Bryan selected Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul to play against Mathew Ebden and Jordan Thompson.

The decision backfired as the duo of Shelton and Paul lost the decider in straight sets. Later, Bryan defended the decision to select an unorthodox team for a crunch match, saying, “We had great options for doubles but I opted for the fire power of the singles players to surprise them. It was a match up decision. I decided in the 15 minutes between the singles and the doubles match. The idea was to surprise them.”

However, the decision to play Shelton and Paul over Ram and Krajicek came under massive scruitiny and invited the wrath of fans. They weren’t happy with the poor selection which eventually ended their Davis Cup hopes.

While the decision may have surprised many, it also came as a shock to Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis. The Australian star was even surprised that Shelton played the singles tie.

Thanasi Kokkinakis reveals the ultimate shock on Ben Shelton gamble

In the first match of the tie, Shelton took on Kokkinakis. The latter predicted ahead of their match that he would play against either Tommy Paul or Taylor Fritz. Shelton was not seen on the practice courts, leading to speculations over his participation. After Kokkinakis upset Shelton to hand Australia a 1-0 lead, he expressed shock at team USA’s selection.

He said, “We didn’t think Ben was going to play.” We were under the assumption Tommy was going to play. I hadn’t seen Ben in the last 2 days. I saw Tommy at breakfast, so I thought he was maybe going to play. He warmed up with Taylor earlier. It was a surprise to me.” 

Nonetheless, Shelton and Kokkinakis broke a five-year record in the process, taking part in the longest tie-breaker since Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies beat Maximo Gonzalez and Leonardo Mayer 7-6 [20-18] in a third set tiebreaker back in 2019. On this occasion, Kokkinakis edged past Shelton 16-14 in the final-set tiebreaker to win the match. All-in-all, it was a heartbreaking result for Shelton, who came agonizingly close to handing his team the victory.

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