They are all hungry to succeed and bring Grand Slam success to their country, especially Shelton who is now into the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Joining him in the last 16 is Alex Michelsen, who has reached the last 16 of a major for the first time in his career.

What did Ben Shelton say to Alex Michelsen?

Ben Shelton moved into round four of the Australian Open by beating Olympic bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti for the first time.

He needed four sets to get past the Italian and will face the evergreen Gael Monfils, who knocked out Taylor Fritz, for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Following his matchup, Shelton spoke about his compatriot Michelsen who beat Karen Kachanov in straight sets to reach the last 16.

He opened up on their relationship, saying they’re good friends and he also revealed the contents of a text message he sent to the 20-year-old.

“Me and Alex are boys,” Shelton told reporters. “I’ve texted him and told him he’s a dog after every match that he’s won because it’s true. He is a dog. I think that he’s going to be towards the top of the game very soon. I just love the way he plays. I love watching him.

“I think that his improvements on the forehand side have been insane. His movement, a lot of improvement. His serve. Obviously the backhand is cash, and he loves to come to the net.

“He is just one of my guys that I love to watch and love being around. We’re going to play doubles at Indian Wells and Miami. So I’m looking forward to that.”

Alex Michelsen joins elite US tennis list at the Australian Open

Michelsen struck 39 winners to 27 unforced errors during his 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-2 win over Kachanov.

He became the fifth-youngest American man in the Open Era to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open after Shelton, Pete Sampras, Sammy Giammalva and Andy Roddick.

He will take on home favourite Alex de Minaur in the fourth round and he was very pleased with his performance to get there.

“I played unbelievable for most of the match; don’t think I’ve ever hit my forehand that well,” Michelsen said. “I’m super happy and hope to keep this momentum going. Been getting a lot of free points off serve.

“I’ve played the pressure points pretty well. Tiebreak, 7/5, then I hit two winners from 5-all. I don’t know where it came from. It just kind of happened.

“It’s easy to look at the score and be like ‘Oh, he’s cruising’. But it doesn’t feel like that during the match. These guys are always applying pressure, giving energy to try to knock you off your game.”

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