Ben Shelton's rise in the recent period has been truly significant and is leading him to become a top player, although he still has to work to reach the level of two champions like Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz who have been dominating the men's tour for a year and a half.
The American ace has been very consistent in Grand Slam tournaments this season, considering that only Sinner and Alcaraz have been able to stop his run (the Italian beat him at the Australian Open and Wimbledon Championships, while the Spaniard defeated him at Roland Garros at the end of a truly spectacular battle).
The current world number 6 understood which aspects of his game he needed to improve and took advantage of the chance at the Canadian Open in Toronto, winning the first Masters 1000 of his young career and taking away the satisfaction of reaching his best ranking.
Despite the fatigue accumulated in Ontario, he also participated in the Cincinnati Masters 1000 and has just reached the quarterfinals by beating the Czech ace Jiri Lehecka. His next opponent in Ohio will be world No. 3 Alexander Zverev, who is not going through the best moment of his career and looks vulnerable on this surface.
Shelton reached the quarterfinals in Cincy
If he continues to play like this, Shelton could really be considered the third favorite at the US Open behind Sinner and Alcaraz.
On the latest edition of the 'Tennis Channel Live' podcast, former WTA star Lindsay Davenport confessed that she was impressed by Ben's improvements in recent times: “It’s so hard when your start time can change by about 10 hours. You can be at 11 am, you can be at 9 pm, and you’ve got to be able to handle all of it.
He now has the mindset of a top player. Nope, every tournament I play, every tournament that I show up with, I’m going to look to win it. I’m gonna look to do my best. He’s not looking for the exit at all. Love to see that from Ben, he’s fighting through the conditions. He’s fighting through obvious fatigue, playing so many matches the last few weeks, and he’s embracing it all.”
