Monday was a big day for Ben Shelton and American men’s tennis on the whole. Shelton broke into the top 10 for the first time in his career and there are now three Americans in the top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time since 2006.
“I’m gonna go look and worry about the end of this tournament first,” Shelton said following his quarterfinal win over Jiri Lehecka at last week’s BOSS Open in Stuttgart–a result that mathematically clinched his top-10 spot. “I’ve got to see it first. So if that is true, that’s really cool, a big milestone in tennis.”
In April of 2006, Andy Roddick, James Blake, and Andre Agassi were in the top 10. Now it’s Shelton, Taylor Fritz, and Tommy Paul.
Fritz is back up to fourth in the world thanks in part to his title in Stuttgart on Sunday. Paul registers at No. 8, but he will leave the top 10 next week when his 500 points from a 2024 title at Queen’s Club come off The 28-year-old is unable to defend after getting injured at Roland Garros.
“The quality of U.S. men’s tennis is 100 percent on the rise,” Shelton said during a 2024 U.S. Open press conference. “I think that we’ve had a lot of guys for a while that you think are going to start pushing through into the Top 15, Top 10, guys who have already been there as well who are finding their form again. This is the most guys that we’ve had in this competitive position in a while.”
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.