Shifting to Shelton: How a kind word and a headband won over young Gabe

Has Ben Shelton found his newest and biggest fan?

When the 21-year-old American walked onto court to face Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Thursday at the Cincinnati Open, he received the majority of support at his home event.

However, there was one young boy, Gabriel Green, who was cheering loudly for Etcheverry and could not hide his disappointment at the Argentine’s three-set defeat. After the match, Shelton found Gabriel in the crowd at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, where he chatted with the youngster before giving him his headband.

Ben's newest fan likes his headband VERY MUCH👌@BenShelton #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/OKdqcVqEjf

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 16, 2024

A day later and Gabriel was courtside again, but this time wearing Shelton's headband and loudly supporting the 12th seed, who defeated Fabian Marozsan to reach the quarter-finals on Friday.

“He was going at me yesterday,” Shelton said when asked about Gabriel, who was born in Mexico and is coached by an Argentine. “I was playing his guy Etcheverry. I heard him the whole match and after the match he looked pretty upset and I went up to him and said, ‘I have a lot of respect for your cheering because when I was a little kid and watching my dad’s teams college matches, that was me’.

“I think that is where the love from the game starts. So it is really cool to see things like that from kids at such a young age. I went over and gave him a headband and I gained a fan yesterday, so maybe we will see him out here one day.”

Shelton will play third seed Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals and will hope to see Gabriel courtside once again.