"American men's tennis is in a very good place as it is" - Breakout star Ben Shelton hopes to keep momentum going heading into 2023 season
ATP
US rising star Ben Shelton made his breakthrough during the 2022 season and is one of the players to watch out for in the 2023 season.
Shelton officially started his pro career ranked World No.171 in the world and climbed the ATP Ranking since then reaching a career-high No.165 as 19-year old last August, becoming the third highest ranked teenager behind Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune.
The Florida native made his debut on the ATP Tour at the Atlanta Open as a wildcard and beat Ramkumar Ramanathan to win the first ATP match of his career before losing his next match against six-time champion John Isner in the tie-break of the third set. He made his Grand Slam debut at the US Open last August, losing to Nuno Borges in the first round. He also teamed up with Christopher Eubanks in the doubles tournament, where they lost in the second round after beating Greek brothers Stefanos and Petros Tsitsipas in the first round.
Since his US Open debut Shelton has reached the Finals in four of his six Challenger tournaments, winning three Challenger titles in Charlottesville, Knoxville and Champaign. He became the youngest player in history to clinch three Challenger titles in as many weeks at the age of 20.
After an impressive 2022 season, Shelton has earned a wild card into the 2023 Australian Open.
“It has definitely gone quick. I am going to take the off-season and slow down a bit, enjoy myself, and also focus on some things I can improve,” he said.
Shelton is aiming to become a top 10 player. Some experts say that he could become the first US player to win a Grand Slam title since Andy Roddick won the US Open in 2003.
“American men’s tennis is in a very good place as it is. I am happy to hopefully help," he added.
Although he started the 2022 season at World No.573 in the ATP Ranking, he won his third straight Challenger title in in Champaign. This saw him break into the top 100 for the first time and end the year at a career-high of World No.97 last November.
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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