Giving back: Ben Shelton and father Bryan receive praise for selfless act in helping star of the future

The Brazilian tennis prodigy, Victoria Barros, expressed gratitude to Ben Shelton and his father Bryan for sharing a practice session. The 14-year-old shared her experience on social media training with the American young star on clay at the Patrick Mouratoglou’s Tennis Academy, founded by the former coach of Serena Williams.

Barros has reached several ITF tournament finals competing against players up to 18 years old, winning four of them. The young Brazilian is one of the proteges of the French coach, and Shelton's stop in the French Riviera provided the perfect opportunity for a joint training session.

The 20-year-old American was quickly eliminated in the third round of the Madrid Open against the 17th seed Aleksander Bublik (6-3, 6-7(2), 4-6). Previously, he had easily defeated the Czech Tomas Machac 6-0, 6-2. Following his exit from Madrid, his next challenge is at the Rome Open, which begins on May 8th, where he is seeded 13th.

Shelton took advantage of his free days to train on the clay courts of the Mouratoglou academy, where he had an encounter with Victoria Barros. The Brazilian shared a video in which Ben and his father Bryan Shelton (who is also his coach) provided advice and encouragement:

"Your father’s look at me was incredible, and his energy as a human being made me super motivated to continue this long process. Let’s always be together on this journey. You are a great example for me," Barros captioned the clip.

Shelton shared Barros's video on his social media stories with the caption: "V💪"