Ben Shelton admitted the first-round Wimbledon loss is one of the toughest defeats of his career. Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen registered a 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(8), 6-2, 7-6(9) nail-biting win against the American to send him packing.

Shelton had entered SW19 with confidence behind his back after he had beaten compatriot Taylor Fritz in the Stuttgart Open final. However, the left-hander could not carry his form on grass.

Shelton even had a match point in the fifth-set tiebreaker but failed to capitalise.

“One of the toughest losses I’ve taken, for sure.”

“I feel like it was an uphill battle all day today,” Shelton, who held a match point and led 8/5 in the fifth-set tie-break, said following the loss. “I was pretty off on my serve spot, so I wasn’t getting many free points. I was having to grind through a lot of the games. [Virtanen] was playing really good and downhill from the baseline… The guy came up with some ridiculous stuff in those moments, really good tennis. Sometimes it happens like that.”

The American gave credit to Virtanen for making him uncomfortable on the court throughout the whole match.

“I think the way that he was playing, hitting the ball, it definitely forced my hand,” Shelton said. “He’s playing aggressively. He wasn’t really making any mistakes. Towards the end, any ball I left semi-hanging, he was ripping a winner… I thought I put myself in a great position to win at the end. He came up with the goods.”

Shelton has won three titles in the ongoing season so far, one on every three surfaces and he is now looking forward to the US hard-court swing.

“There is a lot you can look back on and wish it could have gone differently,” Shelton said. “Obviously for me now, it’s just focusing on the U.S. hard-court swing. Obviously a much earlier exit here than I would have hoped, but the best part of the season for me is coming up.”

Shelton would want to bounce back stronger.