Ben Shelton hopes Munich triumph can help kickstart US men's clay revival

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/shelton-ben/QNuG0Gzb/"]Shelton[/a]'s [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/cobolli-f-zDtaCcPe/shelton-b-QNuG0Gzb/?mid=MkYRydyg"]6-2, 7-5[/a] win over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cobolli-flavio/zDtaCcPe/"]‌Flavio Cobolli[/a] also made him the fifth American ‌this century to bag a clay-court title outside the United States, joining Agassi, Andy Roddick, Sam Querrey ‌and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/korda-sebastian/SYklCTPO/"]Sebastian Korda[/a].[/p][p]The 23-year-old said the "huge" ⁠triumph underlined his ‌ambitions before the French Open, which begins on May ​24.[/p][p][b]"Moving forward I have big ambitions for the clay courts, a surface I want ​to get better on each year. It's become one of my favourite surfaces to play on,"[/b] ⁠Shelton said.[/p][embed guid="a0057cf9-319d-4aec-b4fd-5bbc11c2c55e" url="https://x.com/atptour/status/2045869714446963009" social-type="twitter" /][p]While ​the American women have had plenty of success on the sport's slowest surface, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gauff-coco/f5BXmEH6/"]Coco Gauff[/a] winning the French Open crown last year, the ‌attention will now turn to whether the US men can leave their own mark in Paris.[/p][p]With [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/paul-tommy/pd3ye1BS/"]Tommy Paul[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tiafoe-frances/AHDLJaph/"]Frances Tiafoe[/a] making the Roland Garros quarter-finals last year, Shelton said things were looking up as American men aim to end a Grand Slam drought going back to 2003 when Roddick won the hard-court US ‌Open.[/p][p][b]"Success on clay is coming back,"[/b] he added.[/p][p][b]"I'm ​looking forward to being part of this ‌progression of US men's tennis on clay.[/b][/p][p][b]"On the women's side, they have a lockdown as they won the French Open last year. We as men have some more to ⁠do but we're ⁠heading in the right ‌direction."[/b][/p]