Ben Shelton Explains Meaning Behind His 'USA Til It's Backwards' Message At Aussie Open
American tennis player has pride for country
Ben Shelton is one of just a few American players at the Australian Open who has not been asked a loaded, anti-American question by a reporter making headlines at the year's first Grand Slam. After punching his ticket into the fourth round over the weekend, the 23-year-old got into the mix anyway.
Following his straight-sets win over Valentin Vacherot, Shelton grabbed a marker and took part in the traditional signing of a camera lens before leaving the court.
"USA ‘til it’s backwards," Shelton signed, which is just a slang saying to show unwavering support of the red, white and blue.
In predictable fashion, some tennis fans took issue with Shelton for sharing a completely harmless pro-American message while Donald Trump is occupying the White House, plus the situations that have unfolded in Minneapolis involving federal agents.
After his mentions on social media were undoubtedly filled with strangers bashing him for his pro-American message, Shelton took to his Instagram to explain what his message meant.
"Literally no underlying message with my camera sign…a lot of young Americans killing it in Australia this year," Shelton's message began. "And my girlfriend played for team USA for the first time in a year this morning. Thought they deserved a shoutout."
Ben Shelton/Instagram
Shelton dates professional soccer player Trinity Rodman, who scored a goal for the U.S. in a friendly against Paraguay on Saturday. It was also the first match Rodman had served as the team's captain. Also, as Shelton noted, the U.S. is having a very strong showing at the Aussie Open with three Americans still playing on the men's singles side and five still alive on the women's singles side.
It's incredible that Shelton felt the need to let the world know that he didn't have some underlying message after writing "USA til it's backwards" on a camera lens after winning a tennis match, but these are the times we're living in, where saying or writing something pro-America needs further explanation.