Ben Shelton will be hoping to be the player to break the dominance of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Shelton enjoyed the best season of his career in 2025, which included reaching a career-high ranking of world number five and reaching the Australian Open semifinals.
However, the American was still unable to beat either of the top two players on the ATP Tour, with Alcaraz and Sinner continuing to dominate the majors.
As Shelton looks to close the gap on Alcaraz and Sinner, he has explained what he does not think people talk about enough.
Ben Shelton suggests if Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner can be caught
Shelton will begin his 2026 season at the ASB Classic in Auckland, where he reached the semifinals in 2024.
Ahead of making his fourth appearance at the ATP 250 tournament, Shelton spoke at his pre-tournament press conference.
In this press conference, Shelton was asked about Alcaraz and Sinner and if he thinks other players will be able to close the gap on them in 2026.
While he accepted that they were by far the best players on the ATP Tour right now, Shelton suggested that he expects other players to raise their games this year.
Shelton also pointed out that people often forget how young both Alcaraz (22) and Sinner (24) still are.
“I don’t know, they’ve certainly been ahead of the pack the last couple of years, but in my mind there’s definitely guys who can come up there and challenge, young guys who are playing great, are playing better and better every year,” said Shelton.
“To be doing what Alcaraz and Sinner are doing at such a young age, you forget how young they are, it’s not normal, but I think that there are so many young guys that haven’t fully developed or we haven’t seen their best tennis yet and I think there’s a lot of opportunity for a lot of guys out there.”
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Ben Shelton reveals what he has been working on in the off-season
One of the players hoping to challenge Alcaraz and Sinner this year is Shelton, who has been tipped to impress at the Australian Open again.
As he looks to make improvements to his own game, Shelton was asked about what he has been working on during the off-season.
“Yeah, I think fitness is a big one,” answered Shelton. “You’ve got to come down to Australia fit, New Zealand and Australia, because obviously it’s summer time here and we are coming from winter time and indoor tennis so that’s really important.
“And then just becoming a more complete player, trying to have less holes or weaknesses in my game and make sure that my strengths continue to be strengths and become even bigger strengths. So, from a broad perspective that’s kind of what I was doing.”
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Shelton will be looking to showcase these improvements in Auckland, where he is the top-seeded player.
After receiving a bye to the second round, Shelton will take on Argentinian player Francisco Comesana in a first-time meeting.
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