Later this month, the fourth and final Grand Slam event of the year will get underway in New York at the US Open.
On the men’s side, Jannik Sinner will be looking to defend his title, which he picked up last year after defeating Taylor Fritz in the final.
His rival, Carlos Alcaraz, will hope to make a drastic improvement on his second-round exit in 2024, while 38-year-old Novak Djokovic remains focused on claiming a 25th major crown.
Outside of Alcaraz and Djokovic, there is one player who looks to be the biggest threat to Sinner‘s throne, whom tennis legend Rod Laver once had high expectations for.
Rod Laver’s 2023 prediction may be on the verge of happening
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the US Open in 2023, 11-time Grand Slam champion Laver said: “[Ben] Shelton is the new player on the tour.
“We’re going to see him winning a Slam. He’s got one of the biggest serves, a big left-hander, he doesn’t make many mistakes. He sees an opening and goes for it.
Ben Shelton was fresh off his best campaign at a major at that point, having just reached the semifinals at Flushing Meadows, where he ultimately fell to eventual champion Djokovic.
In 2024, Shelton didn’t build on his breakthrough tournament and failed to make it past the fourth round of a major.
This season, however, things have changed, and the American is playing some of the best tennis of his career.
He made the semifinals of the Australian Open and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon before recently clinching the biggest title of his career, securing a maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto.
Ben Shelton’s Grand Slam results this season so far:
- Australian Open: Semifinals – Lost to Jannik Sinner
- Roland Garros: Fourth Round – Lost to Carlos Alcaraz
- Wimbledon: Quarterfinals – Lost to Jannik Sinner
Now ranked sixth in the world, Shelton is closing the gap on the ‘new two’, Sinner and Alcaraz, who between them have handed him his three defeats at majors this year.
Having added a big title to his resume, the 22-year-old’s confidence will be sky-high heading into the US Open, where he may just prove Laver right.
Ben Shelton’s head-to-head record against Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz
Shelton has just one win in total against the two players who keep denying him at Grand Slam events.
In three clashes against Alcaraz, he has lost each one, with his most recent defeat to the Spaniard coming in the fourth round at Roland Garros.
He has played Sinner seven times and managed to win their first meeting on the ATP Tour in 2023 at the Shanghai Masters.
The next six bouts, however, have all gone the way of the Italian, and in 2025, Shelton has lost to the world number one at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon.
Though his record against the two very best in the world may be poor, the young US star is only going to improve, and on the surface that he has been the most successful on, he is more than capable of snapping their dominance at majors.
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