Ben Shelton has certainly made major improvements during the 2025 season, working on his weaknesses together with his team and becoming more consistent especially in Grand Slam tournaments. The young American star has come close to the level of champions such as Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, but the latter still have something more than him and have shown it in the first three Major tournaments of this year. More precisely, the 24-year-old Italian beat him in the semifinals at the Australian Open and in the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships, while the 22-year-old Spaniard prevailed over him in the round of 16 of Roland Garros.
In any case, Ben can be very satisfied with the level expressed in 2025, considering that he also lifted his first title in a Masters 1000 in Toronto during the summer. Just when he had reached the top of his shape, a shoulder injury forced him to retire during the match against French veteran Adrian Mannarino during the summer.
He had never retired during a match up to that point in his career and left the court in tears, because he could not continue competing in front of his home fans. That issue also forced him to miss several tournaments in the latter part of the season, until he returned to action at the Shanghai Masters 1000.
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Benfinished theATPseason with 40 wins
Shelton still managed to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, where he was eliminated in the round robin suffering three losses. The American star ended his 2025 with a balance of 40 wins and 24 losses.
During a recent interview with Noah Christian Dion, the current world number 9 talked about his crazy career so far: "I mean its been a cool journey for me, a crazy journey. You know, a lot of tennis players dont go to college, so I guess my path was a little different. And I think Im a testament that theres no one path or one way to the top of the sport. Its an ongoing process. Im just trying to get better every day. This is a sport that you get left behind if you dont keep improving.
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Im glad that, or hope that I can inspire kids who are going to college or who are in college that they can make it as pros as well.
