Is Ben Shelton The Next American Superstar

If you look at the list of Grand Slam winners in the last twenty years, you won’t find anyone on the men’s side. Andy Roddick won the US Open in 2003 and ever since; Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic took over. Some are happy to say that these three just got lucky, but they are the best tennis players to ever walk on this planet.

In my opinion, there's one player that can become a superstar similar to what we had in the 80s and the 90s with so many American superstars like Connors, McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi, Chris Evert, Jennifer Capriati, and the list goes on. That one player that can have a huge impact on American tennis is Ben Shelton. If I compare Shelton to some of the other American players, for example, Fritz, I do see something extra in him.

Rankings

As I did in an article recently I'm going to give you the numbers on how many players each country has in the top hundred, and the numbers have changed. I will go ahead and start with the men. Now, take into consideration that these are the rankings from last September during the US Open. At number five, we have Serbia with four players in the top hundred. At number four, we have Italy and Germany with five players in the top hundred.

At number three, we have Argentina, Spain, and Russia with seven players in the top hundred. At number two, we have Australia with eight players in the top hundred. And tied at number one, we have the United States and France with 11 players in the top hundred.

I will say that the United States has some players who are top hundred level players, such as Brooksby and Opelka, who are injured and will be in the top hundred once they come back.

On the women's side, at number five, we have Germany, Romania, and Spain with four players in the top hundred. At number four, we have Italy, France, China, and Ukraine with five players in the top hundred. At number three, we have Czechia (formerly known as the Czech Republic) with nine players in the top hundred. At number two, we have Russia with 12 players in the top hundred. And at number one, we have the United States with 13 players in the top hundred.

Domination

Some believe that the bigger countries are dominating by having more players in the top 100, but that is not true. For example, when we look at the men's ranking, we have a country like Serbia that has a population of 7 million, and they have four players in the top hundred. That's extremely impressive when we compare the size of the United States with 340 million people.

My point is that there should be a lot more Americans in the top hundred, like it used to be back in the day—there should be 30 or 40 Americans in the top 100. The same can be said about the women's side, where a country like Czechia with 10.5 million people has an impressive nine players in the top hundred of the WTA rankings. This is so amazing, this statistic, that a small country like that can produce so many great players.

Why do I say that? The United States is by far the best place in the world to play tennis. In the United States, we have the luxury of having good weather; we can play outside, we have an amazing public park system with free courts where you don't have to pay anything to play tennis. This does not exist in a place like Europe. If you want to play tennis for free, you can't do it—you have to join a club. So, we have amazing luxuries in the United States.

Red, White, & Blue

There are a lot of American male players in the top hundred, but the quality of players compared to 20 years ago is not even close. Compared to the rankings of 1991, we had all the legends of the game dominating the sport from the United States—players like Agassi, Sampras, Chang, Courier, McEnroe, and so on. In fact, the 10th American player in 1991 was ranked 23 in the world. Now, two years ago, the situation was very alarming because Isner, ranked outside the top 20, was the best American player. I can tell you that now the situation has changed completely.

I can see a situation where we have four American players in the top 20: Shelton, Paul, Fritz, and Korda. Out of all these guys, my gut feeling tells me that Ben Shelton is the guy that could pull off a Grand Slam. When I look at a player like Fritz, he’s an amazing player—a top 10 players in the world. There's something there preventing him from going deep in these tournaments. There's some kind of mental block for Fritz, who has a very poor record against top 10 players in Grand Slams. Something tells me that Shelton, with his unbelievably powerful game, can go beyond the rest if he resolves his arrogant attitude.

Final Thoughts

When you see the announcements from pickleball that a tennis star has joined professional pickleball and you read the comments, it's pretty much all negative comments. I've not seen one person say, "Oh my God, it's so great that this person is turning pro in pickleball." Nobody thinks that. It's a bad look, and I don't like to see it.

In my opinion, it starts with the younger generations. We need to continue developing young talent and providing them with the resources and opportunities to succeed. That means investing in junior programs, providing access to quality coaching, and creating pathways for young players to transition into professional tennis.

We also need to ensure that college tennis remains a strong developmental platform. The college system in the United States is unique and offers a great pathway for young players to develop their games while also getting an education. It's essential that we support college tennis and recognize its importance in the overall ecosystem of American tennis. Happy Fourth!