Ben Shelton, 23, just narrowly missed out on finishing as the Year-End No. 1 American male tennis player after a disappointing ATP Finals debut.
Going into the ATP Finals, Shelton enjoyed a career-high of No. 5 in the world ranking while Taylor Fritz sat at No. 6 in the world - which put the 23-year-old into pole position to end the season as the American male No. 1.
Shelton lost to Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime in his opening two matches. On the other side, Fritz's campaign in Turin ended on Thursday after he was beaten by Alex de Minaur and finished the group with a 1-2 record.
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For every group-stage win at the ATP Finals, a player collected 200 ranking points - by collecting just one win, Fritz got to 4,135 points.
Since Shelton still had one match left to play in Turin on Friday, he had a chance to beat out the older compatriot in the Year-End American No. 1 race. But it didn't happen after Jannik Sinner handed the three-time ATP champion a 6-3 7-6 (3) loss. Had the 23-year-old defeated Sinner, he would have gotten to 4,170 ranking points.
Shelton set to drop four places on Monday
When the ATP updates its ranking list on Monday, Shelton will plummet to No. 9 in the world while Fritz will remain at No. 6 in the world.
"Yeah, tough to finish out the season like this, 0-3 at the Finals. Yeah, for me obviously a great year. A lot of positives. Tennis is full of highs and lows. This will just make me work harder in the off-season, make me even more excited for the 2026 season. But yeah, it stings, for sure," the 23-year-old said after his Turin exit.
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