The Open Era
United States · born Huntsville, Alabama, 1965 · right-handed · twice Newport champion
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2
Newport singles titles, 1991 and 1992, his only tour singles titles
147
His ranking when he won Newport in 1991
55
Career-high singles ranking, 1992
4R
Best Wimbledon result, as a qualifier in 1994
9-6
Singles match record at Wimbledon
Shelton was born in Huntsville, Alabama, in December 1965. At Georgia Tech he won the Atlantic Coast Conference singles title in 1985, was an All-ACC selection in all four seasons and an All-American in 1988, and took a degree in industrial engineering. He turned professional in 1989. In July 1991, ranked No. 147, he won his first tour title at the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, beating Javier Frana 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, and he defended it in 1992 against Alex Antonitsch, 6-4, 6-4. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 55 in 1992, the year he and Lori McNeil were runners-up in the French Open mixed doubles to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Mark Woodforde. As a qualifier at Wimbledon in 1994 he beat the second seed, Michael Stich, and reached the fourth round, his best major result. He retired in 1997.
He turned to coaching. He worked with MaliVai Washington and in 1999 took charge of the Georgia Tech women's team, which won the NCAA title in 2007. From 2012 he coached the University of Florida men, who won their first national title in 2021 with his son Ben clinching the final match against Baylor. That made him the first Division I coach to win national titles with both a men's and a women's team. He entered the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in 2016, and in 2023 he left Florida to coach Ben full time on the ATP Tour.
| Newport finals | 1991: beat Javier Frana 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. 1992: beat Alex Antonitsch 6-4, 6-4 to keep the title |
|---|---|
| Newport 1991 | Beat Patrick Baur 7-5, 1-6, 7-5, Jonathan Stark 6-4, 6-4, Christo van Rensburg 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and Todd Martin 7-5, 6-4 on the way to the final |
| Wimbledon 1994 | Qualifier. Beat second seed Michael Stich 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on No. 2 Court, then Karim Alami and Jason Stoltenberg, both in five sets, before losing to Christian Bergström 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the fourth round |
| Wimbledon, other years | Drew Boris Becker in the first round in 1989, took Ivan Lendl to four sets in the third round in 1990 and Becker to four sets again in 1992 |
| Newport, Rhode Island | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Men's singles Hall of Fame Open | |
| 1992 | Men's singles Hall of Fame Open | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"It's exciting and it's an achievement I'm proud of."
The person behind the player.
Georgia Tech, 1985 to 1989
Shelton went to Georgia Tech on a tennis scholarship and left with a degree in industrial engineering. He won the ACC singles title as a freshman in 1985, the conference doubles with Richey Gilbert in 1986, and was named an All-American in 1988.
Source: International Tennis Hall of Fame, Breaking BoundariesNewport, July 1991
A former All-American ranked No. 147, Shelton beat Javier Frana in the Newport final to become the first Black American man to win a tour singles title since Arthur Ashe won in Los Angeles in 1978. He came back the next July and won it again.
Source: Randy Walker, On This Day in Tennis HistoryWimbledon 1994 · No. 2 Court
The AELTC's own record lists Shelton among the giant-killers of the old No. 2 Court: in 1994 the second seed, Michael Stich, 'crashed out in straight sets in the first round to Bryan Shelton'. Shelton had come through qualifying, and he went on to the fourth round.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025Gainesville, 2021
In 2021 Shelton's Florida team beat Baylor for the university's first men's national title, and the deciding match was won by his son Ben. Shelton had already won the women's title with Georgia Tech in 2007, and became the first Division I coach to win both.
Source: International Tennis Hall of Fame, Breaking BoundariesATP Tour, 2023
When he left Florida in June 2023 to travel with Ben full time, Shelton said: "I feel like a little bit of a kid again." Of the years when he could not be at Ben's early tour events, he said: "I always said I wish I could have perfected that trick where you can be in two places at one time."
Source: ATP TourFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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