Ben Shelton has made a rapid rise up the ranks since arriving on the ATP Tour in 2022.
Shelton reached the Stuttgart semi-finals last week, which was his first time reaching the last four of a grass court tournament.
As a result, Shelton has now become a top 10 player for the first time in his career at just 22 years old.
This has continued an impressive start to the season for Americans as well as Shelton, and now former top 10 player John Isner has offered some advice to up-and-coming players from the States.
John Isner has advice for young American players after what Ben Shelton has done
When discussing Shelton’s new career-high on the Nothing Major Podcast, Isner claimed that he thinks the young American star can go even higher than this.
However, Isner did admit that he was surprised how quickly Shelton has been able to transition from playing college tennis at the University of Florida to the ATP Tour.
As a result, he has called for more players to follow in the footsteps of Shelton and remain in America until they are ready to play on the main tour.
“Yes, he can get higher than this,” began Isner. “I firmly believe that. And yes, I also am surprised by how quickly he got into the top 10. You just don’t see it that often, especially coming out of college tennis.
There are a few freaks out there like [Carlos] Alcaraz, who burst on to the scene. But I think you saw right away, I played him when he was fresh out of college in Atlanta, and he was a bit more raw back then, it was like three years ago. But you knew he had something. You could see how live his arm was and how athletic he is. Period. So you knew he had something and you knew he was going to be good.
“Did I think he was going to be top 10 in three years’ time? Probably not. I would not have been surprised at top 20 or 30, but top 10 is freaking awesome.
“And another thing that is cool is that the first time he ever travelled outside of the United States to play professional tennis was after college, he had never done it before. 21 years old he played his first ever tournament in Europe.
“For me that goes to show that especially for American players, I think these international junior tournaments are a little bit overrated and just not worth the time and commitment and the money. Hone your craft at home with your coaches and your family, fantastic. Go to college and get better.
“You’re going to go to college whether you play these junior slams or not. I think Ben Shelton is a great example of that now he is top 10 in the world. He has never played a junior Slam before.”
Ben Shelton helps American men make history in the ATP rankings
Not only was Shelton’s rise to world number 10 a career first for him, but it was also historic for American tennis as a whole.
Joining both Taylor Fritz (No.4) and Tommy Paul (No.8), there are now three American men inside the top 10 in the ATP rankings for the first time in over 19 years.
The last three American men to be inside the top 10 were Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and James Blake.
Two of these three men were Grand Slam champions, with Roddick winning the 2003 US Open the last time an American man won a major singles title.
The player who has been closest to ending that run is Fritz, who reached the US Open final last year, while Shelton has twice been in Grand Slam semi-finals.
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