Ben Shelton has attributed some of his singles success at the Dallas Open to playing doubles.
Shelton disappointed against Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open quarterfinals this year, but he was able to bounce straight back.
At his first tournament since the Australian Open, Shelton reached the finals of the Dallas Open for the first time.
Despite facing three championship points in this final, Shelton was able to beat Taylor Fritz to win the title.
Shelton also played doubles in Dallas, and he has explained how that helped him win the singles title at the end of the week.
Ben Shelton believes doubles helped him win the singles title in Dallas
In the doubles tournament in Dallas, Shelton was partnered by his compatriot Aleksandar Kovacevic, whom he had not played with since 2022.
Shelton and Kovacevic found some success, winning their first round match before losing in the quarterfinals to third seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul in a tight three set match.
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Following his title victory in Dallas, Shelton was asked about his willingness to come to the net in his singles matches throughout the week.
Shelton revealed that this was something that he wanted to continue implementing into his game, before explaining that playing doubles with Kovacevic was a great help for him to get used to the court and work on his volleys for the singles tournament.
“100%,” Shelton responded in his post-match press conference. “I think feeling comfortable out there with the evolution for me, an area I can set myself apart from the pack and the rest of the field and it’s something I am getting better and better at every week.
“Playing doubles this week was a thought for getting used to the court, working on my volleys and hand skills up at the net, and return of serve as well as the serve and getting used to playing some of the pressure points. I think that it definitely helped me in the end when it came down to it in my singles matches.”
Shelton won over 70% of the points where he came to the net in Dallas, which was most successful in his first round match against Gabriel Diallo.
The match where he came to the net the most was in his semifinal against Denis Shapovalov, whereas Shelton came to the net the least in the final against Fritz.
| Ben Shelton at the 2026 Dallas Open | Net Points Won |
| First Round vs Gabriel Diallo | 7/9 (77.8%) |
| Second Round vs Adrian Mannarino | 10/16 (62.5%) |
| Quarterfinal vs Miomir Kecmanovic | 10/14 (71.4%) |
| Semifinal vs Denis Shapovalov | 13/17 (76.5%) |
| Final vs Taylor Fritz | 5/8 (62.5%) |
| Total | 45/64 (70.3%) |
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Shelton has now spoken about how much he believes doubles helped him in his run to the Dallas Open singles title, which suggests that he is planning on doing more of it in the future.
However, the 23-year-old is actually yet to win an ATP doubles title as of yet, with Shelton’s best result coming at the Washington Open in 2023.
This was when Shelton played with another American in Mackenzie McDonald, going all the way to the final before losing in a match tie-break.
Shelton has played every Grand Slam tournament in men’s doubles, but he has never been able to surpass the second round.
However, Shelton reached the US Open mixed doubles semifinals in 2023 when playing alongside Taylor Townsend.
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After winning the title in Dallas, Shelton is now scheduled to have one week off before returning to the ATP Tour for the Mexican Open.
It is currently unclear as to whether Shelton intends to play just singles or doubles in Acapulco.
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