In 1994, 20 years ago to this week, Atlanta had more ALTA players than any city in the county and Bryan Shelton mesmerized them all and so many others when he took off on a incredible ride through Wimbledon, opening with a three-set upset of No. 2-ranked Michael Stitch of West Germany, who had won the singles title in 1991. Shelton then knocked off Karim Alami of Morocco and Jason Stoltenberg of Australia, both in five sets before losing to Christian Bergstrom of Sweden in five sets, the last going an extra seven games with Shelton falling 10-8.
What Shelton says: “It’s funny because I started that year on a losing streak (entered Wimbledon at 12-14) and had to go back and qualify for Wimbledon. But at Wimbledon, I felt like I was seeing the ball as big as a basketball.’’
What he did: Shelton, a 1988 All-American tennis player at Georgia Tech, has been one of the most successful college tennis coaches in the county, first with the women at Tech and now the men at Florida. He was a four-time All-ACC selection at Tech from 1985-88 and won 101 times, second on the school's career singles wins list, and was inducted into the Georgia Tech Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993. He won two singles tournaments as a pro, was ranked as high as No. 55 in the world and stunned the tennis world in 1994 when he knocked off No. 2 seed Michael Stitch in the first round of Wimbledon. At the time, the Braves were not playing well and the season would end because of a players strike while Shelton became the city's darling, making front-page headlines in this paper daily and advancing to the fourth round before losing to Christian Bergstrom in a fabulous five-set match in the round of 16. Bergstrom would lose two days later to Boris Becker in the quarterfinals in a Wimbledon eventually won by Pete Sampras.
Where he is now: Now 48, Shelton lives with wife, Lisa, in Gainesville, Fla., and has two children; daughter Emma is 13 and son Benjamin is 11. And yes, said Shelton, they both play tennis and "about every other sport.'' Lisa is the brother of the late pro Todd Witsken, a very good doubles player who upset Jimmy Connors in singles in the third round of the 1986 U.S. Open.
What he does: After spending 13 years at Tech and building the women's tennis team into a national power, Shelton is coaching the men's team at Florida. Shelton's Tech teams won four ACC championships, made the NCAA tournament all 13 years and won the national championship in 2007 when he was named National Coach of the Year and they won their final 21 matches of the season. This year at Florida, the Gators made the NCAA Sweet 16.
On Wimbledon in 1994: I remember going out to center court against Stitch to flip the coin for who served first and he had this big smile on his face. I remember thinking, "You are in for a big surprise." Afterward, Michael said he could face me 100 times and beat me 99 of them. (Stitch complimented Shelton to the Los Angeles Times, "He was just too good today. He could have closed his eyes and hit it wherever he wanted.'') I remember the last match against Bergstrom because I was upset at myself for not having my equipment ready. It was a great match, but every time I pulled a new racket out of my bag my strings were not tight enough. I learned from that, but the whole run was awesome and the support back in Atlanta was something I will never forget.
On playing at Tech: There were a lot of late nights studying. I majored in industrial engineering, and it was really tough. But what Tech taught me was how to prepare and win as a team. In cases, we were always doing work as a team and it prepared me for life. I remember beating Georgia for the first time my senior year (1988). They always had the reputation of being one of the top teams in the country. That was a huge breakthrough for us.
On coaching the women at Tech: They had never won, but we changed that. We just hit it hard recruiting and ended up with some of the top players in the county (12 All-Americans). And we taught everyone how important the team was.
