Taylor Fritz has lauded the achievement of American men in tennis as Ben Shelton becomes the fourth to currently be ranked Top 15 in the ATP Rankings.

Shelton has seen a meteoric rise this season, breaking into the Top 20 in September after he reached the semi-finals of the US Open. After spending some time going between nineteenth and twentieth, the 21-year-old rose again after he won his first ATP Tour-level title at the Japan Open in Tokyo last week, defeating Aslan Karatsev in the final 7-5, 6-1.

This means that there are now four men in the Top 15 for the first time in 26 years (Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Andre Agassi, and Todd Martin all made the cut back in March 1997).

Shelton joins World No. 9 Fritz, No. 12 Tommy Paul, and No. 14 Frances Tiafoe. Fritz took to social media to mark the feat, responding to an ESPN post celebrating the achievement with the caption:

"We out here."

The 25-year-old reached a career-high ranking of World No. 5 earlier this year and has six ATP singles titles to his name, including a Masters 1000 title at the 2022 Indian Wells. He was the defending champion at this year's Japan Open but suffered a shock defeat to wildcard home player Shintaro Mochizuki in the second round.

Meanwhile, Paul has had a very solid season, some highlights of which include reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open and defeating the then World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz at the Canadian Open.

The third-ranked American man Tiafoe has also seen a lot of success this year, picking up two titles at the ATP Houston and the Stuttgart Open. He also reached as high as World No. 10 earlier this season and made a run to the quarter-finals of the US Open last month before being defeated by Shelton.