UF tennis coach Bryan Shelton leads top-ranked Gators’ national championship pursuit

Florida men’s tennis coach Bryan Shelton once faced Boris Becker at Wimbledon, Jimmy Connors on the stadium court during the U.S. Open and captivated the Australian Open crowd in a five-set thriller against former world No. 1 Jim Courier.

Each time, Shelton lost the match but learned and moved forward the better for it.

Shelton has relied on his experiences to build winning programs, first at alma mater Georgia Tech and these days in Gainesville.

“I think when you’ve had success but you’ve also failed enough ... it’s easier to help people out when they’re dealing with similar things,” Shelton said.

Under Shelton’s guidance the past nine seasons, the Gators have slowly evolved from a program with vast potential to the cusp of becoming a powerhouse. Shelton’s squad now hopes to take the next step in the process during the NCAA Championships Round of 16, where top-seeded Florida will face No. 16 Illinois at 7 p.m. Monday at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona.

Shelton would cherish the sight of his players, including son Ben, a UF freshman, celebrating the program’s first national title at a university where championships are the ultimate measure. Yet Shelton’s experiences during nine years on ATP Tour (1988-97) recalibrated his view of success.

“Too many things have to fall in place to win it all,” Shelton said. “So that’s not our obsession, certainly not my obsession. The years kind of keep coming, so what I preach to my players and my staff is that you better enjoy each day. You better not just be looking forward to that one day when you win a national title because after that day, guess what? You wake up the next day and someone asks you about next year.

“It’s just that quick.”

Shelton, 55, still takes immense pride in his accomplishments as a professional player. The highlights include four ATP tournament titles — two each in singles and doubles — and victories against Hall of Famer Andre Agassi and major champions Michael Stich and Sergi Bruguera, when each ranked No. 2 in the world.

“It was just incredible to have those types of experiences,” Shelton said. “To be able to pretty much maintain a top-100 ranking most of the time I played was in my mind having success out there — making a living.”

Shelton aims to provide his players a road map to their own success while helping them better enjoy the journey.

To become an All-American and ACC singles and doubles champion at Georgia Tech, Shelton combined talent with a fierce competitive streak and tireless work ethic. Along the way, he also earned a degree in industrial engineering.

After pondering a post-playing career teaching mathematics, Shelton entered coaching and eventually returned to his alma mater to head its underachieving women’s tennis program. Over the years, he became increasingly philosophical and flexible about how to build a program and handle his players.

Shelton realized pushing too hard often led to diminishing returns, no player could be coached the same and a program required an entrepreneurial spirit.

“I fell in love with it,” he said. “It felt almost like your own business. Here you are trying to develop a program, help these young players develop, try to build a culture, set something in motion that could be really special over time.

“But I made a lot of mistakes along the way.”

The Yellow Jackets would enjoy unprecedented success, culminating with the 2007 national title.

After 13 seasons in Atlanta, Shelton was ripe for the picking when former UF athletic director Jeremy Foley reached out in 2012 after Andy Jackson’s resignation.

“It was the perfect timing,” Shelton said. “I was ready for a new challenge.”

The Gators certainly presented Shelton one.

Shelton inherited a program with gifted players but little direction and a seven-year stretch without advancing beyond the NCAA’s Round of 16.

“If anyone ever talked about Florida men’s tennis, they always talked about the talent,” Shelton said. “When I arrived here, the talent on our team was outstanding. We had to change the culture.”

Before he arrived, Shelton made clear the expectations.

“It was just get up early, stay late … get to work,” he said. “There’s going to be structure. We’re going to become a championship program. But it’s not going to just come from wanting it or wishing for it.”

Within Shelton’s first week on campus, two players left the program. Four or five ultimately exited during those early years when on-the-court results became somewhat secondary.

The Gators reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 2016 but twice were ousted during the opening round of 64 teams.

Yet Shelton’s program was winning in other ways. What early recruits Diego Hidalgo, Maxx Lipman, Josh Wardell and Elliott Orkin lacked in firepower, each made up for in force of personality.

“These were high, high character guys,” Shelton said. “That was my first thought: I’ll sacrifice some talent with the first one or two classes I bring in, but I have to bring in those characters guys — those family guys, those hard-working guys, those guys who are going to say, yes sir and no sir, that I know off the court they’re not going to be issues with, they’re going to do their work and they’re going to be good students. Let’s make sure I’m going to bring in some worker bees and set the tone.

“That paid big dividends. It didn’t give the quick fix, but it started to move things in the right direction.”

UF fully found its stride during a NCAA semifinals run in 2018 and have not slowed down. The Gators are 62-9 record during the past three seasons, including 22-2 entering Monday’s match.

The 2021 squad is talented and balanced. UF features three players ranked among the top 20 — No. 4 Duarte Vale, No. 6 Sam Riffice and No. 18 Andy Andrade — and two unbeaten players later in the six-man singles lineup, Josh Goodger and Blaise Bicknell. During dual matches, Ben Shelton is 18-4 and also 5-1 in doubles paired with Riffice.

“It puts a lot less pressure on some of us guys at the top,” said Riffice, who hails from Orlando. “College tennis is all about the depth of the lineup. When we have guys like that who are just so rock-solid, it really allows us to play freer.”

The Gators also benefit from having a coach not consumed by only wins and loses.

Bryan Shelton pours boundless energy into his program and demands plenty from his players but lives with the outcome.

“He’s just all about building up players and getting you to have the most you can out of your game,” Riffice said. “It’s really incredible how he’s not result-oriented in his mindset; it’s just all about you as a player and a person. It’s quite different.

“He focuses on creating the player and creating the culture, and good things will come from that.”

Shelton’s vision and plan for his Florida program could culminate with a week to remember. A victory against Illinois and during subsequent dual matches Thursday, Friday and Saturday would deliver the school’s first national title in men’s tennis.

If Gators do stumble, Shelton will be there to support his players, offer perspective and let them know losing isn’t always the worst thing in life.

“It’s not just about an end result,” he said. “It’s about the journey; it’s about the process. It’s about doing things the right way.”

WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH

TennisONE app will provide free livestream Monday-May 28.

Tennis Channel will offer live coverage set for Wednesday-Saturday.

Wednesday: Women’s quarterfinals, 5:30-9:30 p.m.

Thursday: Men’s quarterfinals, 5:30-9:30 p.m.

Friday: Women’s semifinals, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Men’s semifinals, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Saturday: Women’s finals 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Men’s finals 7:30-9:30 p.m.

This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Edgar Thompson at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com.