![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shelton-us-open-2025-pre.jpg\")
<\/p>\n US Open
\n ‘Entertainer at heart’, Shelton steps onto his biggest stage<\/p>\n
Shelton challenging Fritz for mantle of American No. 1<\/p>\n
August 22, 2025<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2025 Getty Images<\/p>\n
Ben Shelton has been to the second week of every major he’s played in 2025.
\n By ATP Staff<\/p>\n
It\u2019s showtime for Shelton.<\/p>\n
Having recently won his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto and building a reputation as someone who produces his best at the majors, American World No. 6 Ben Shelton<\/a> has laid the foundation for what could be an explosive campaign at his home Slam.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the biggest tournament of the year for me. This is the one,\u201d Shelton said Friday during his US Open<\/a> pre-tournament media interview. \u201cI put a lot of work into being in a good place when I got here. Feeling confident about my game. Feel really good and prepared going into this tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n Just two years ago as a raw 20-year-old, the former University of Florida standout won over fans with an unlikely run to the semi-finals, barely a year after turning pro. It was apparent from the outset that the big stage of the 23,000-seat Arthur Ashe<\/a> Stadium and rowdy New York fans were a perfect complement to his personality.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I’m an entertainer at heart,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I have kind of figured out what state I need to be in to be locked in but also having fun at the same time.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m never going to be the guy who is able to robotically go about my business and not change expression or show any emotion. I think that I play better when I do show some emotion.\u201d<\/p>\n In his young career, Shelton has reached the second week six times in 12 appearances at the majors. He is three for three in 2025 following a semi-final at the Australian Open<\/a>, fourth round at Roland Garros<\/a> and quarter-final at Wimbledon<\/a>. <\/p>\n Along with World No. 4 Taylor Fritz<\/a>, No. 14 Tommy Paul<\/a> and No. 15 Frances Tiafoe<\/a>, Shelton is one of four Americans in the Top 20 of the PIF ATP Rankings, giving American fans hope that they will celebrate their first home-grown men\u2019s champion since Andy Roddick<\/a> in 2003.<\/p>\n \u201cI’d love to see it,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cI feel like there have been a lot of guys who have been close here. Foe is always on a different level when he plays here. Fritz was in the finals. I think Tommy always plays really well here, too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve got a lot of guys… who can make deep runs here and play against the best players in the world. I think that it’s a matter of time for us.\u201d<\/p>\n With Fritz defending 1300 points from his run to last year\u2019s final to Shelton\u2019s 100 points for reaching the third round, the 2023 semi-finalist has the chance to become the top-ranked American with a deep run at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n Shelton is fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, about 1000 points inside the cut for the Nitto ATP Finals<\/a>. A deep run in New York will go a long way to shoring up his debut appearance at the elite eight-man season finale in Turin from 9-16 November.<\/p>\n Shelton comes into the tournament with a 35-17 record on the year, according to the Infosys ATP Win\/Loss Index, on track to top his record 42-26 season in 2024. <\/p>\n Shelton will play his opening match against a qualifier or lucky loser. He is seeded to meet Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor<\/a> in the third round, Casper Ruud<\/a> or Jiri Lehecka<\/a> in the fourth round and Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> or former finalist Daniil Medvedev<\/a> in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US Open ‘Entertainer at heart’, Shelton steps onto his biggest stage Shelton challenging Fritz for mantle of American…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-365960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115075288012365387","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n