Ben Shelton’s season came to an end at the ATP Finals in Turin, where he failed to pick up a win.
Shelton lost all three of his matches in the Bjorn Borg group, falling to Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Zverev.
Despite his shortcomings at the year-end tournament, the American has enjoyed a largely successful 2025 campaign, having clinched his first ATP Masters 1000 title while finally cracking the world’s top ten.
At Grand Slams, Shelton made two deep runs, reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
Still only 22 years old, he has plenty of time to develop, but former US player Steve Johnson thinks there is a part of his game preventing him from closing the gap on Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at the top of the rankings.
Steve Johnson discusses Ben Shelton’s 2025 ATP season
Speaking on the ‘Nothing Major’ podcast, Johnson said of Shelton: “He’s young. He’s just getting there.
“It’s gonna take some time. I mean, what he’s done in the last 24 months is amazing. He’s gonna figure it out.
“He has the firepower, and every year he’s gotten better. Every couple of months, you feel like there’s one little piece of his game that is maybe missing or lacking, and he figures it out. He’s gonna be just fine.
“At some point, he’s gonna be comfortable playing these top guys and consistently beat them. I just don’t think you can beat the top top guys with strictly firepower. He’s gonna have to do just a little bit more, and he’ll figure it out.
Should Ben Shelton hire a new coach for the 2026 season?
“I have no issues. I mean, his year was awesome. He makes the ATP Finals, he’s competing for the biggest events, and he won a Masters series. What more do you want other than a Slam win or making the semifinals of this event [the ATP Finals]?
“Overall, it was an awesome year for Ben, and he’s just gonna continue to get better. And that shoulder injury was a bummer. Like, an absolute bummer at the US Open when he was playing well.”
Shelton suffered a shoulder injury in his third-round match with Adrian Mannarino at the US Open, which saw him sidelined for most of the Asian swing.
After returning to tour-level action in Shanghai, he picked up just three wins across four tournaments.
Ben Shelton’s results since returning from his shoulder injury
Shelton’s first match back from injury was against David Goffin at the Shanghai Masters, and he lost to the Belgian veteran comfortably.
He claimed a win against Kamil Majchrzak at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, but exited the tournament following a defeat to Jaume Munar.
At the Paris Masters, Shelton picked up two big wins, besting Wimbledon quarterfinalist Flavio Cobolli and 12th seed Andrey Rublev.
His run in the French capital was brought to an end by Sinner, though, with the world number two beating him in straight sets.
At the ATP Finals, Shelton only managed to win one set in his three losses, which he clinched in his bout with Auger Aliassime.
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