Ben Shelton is on a career-high after being officially named as the American No.1 men’s singles player on the ATP Tour. His win over Frances Tiafoe in the Houston Open 2024 recently, saw him go past fellow American, Taylor Fritz who was knocked out of the Monte Carlo Masters 2024 in the first round. Shelton stands a chance to enter the Top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career. If he could do that, he would become the first left-handed player since Rafael Nadal in over 13 months to have that honor.
Rafael Nadal dropped out of the top 10 of the ATP rankings in March 2023. It was the first time Nadal was not part of the creme-de-la-creme of men’s singles tennis since April 2005. With Nadal unlikely to get back into the top 10 ever again, it is time for the new generation to take over, especially those who are southpaws like him.
While Ben Shelton has Rafael Nadal in his sights, the 21-year-old has already emulated legends from his country, namely John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors as the American No.1 men’s player who plays left-handed.
However, Ben Shelton’s major obstacle in this pursuit will be France’s Ugo Humbert. Humbert went up 2 places recently in the ATP rankings to 13th, which made him go 1 place above Shelton. They are both in a race to break the 13-month duck in men’s tennis of no left-handed player being in the top 10.
Humbert will compete at the Barcelona Open next, entering as a 6th-seeded player. The Frenchman is on a roll, having already won the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Open 13 titles in the 2024 season so far. Whereas, Ben Shelton has not confirmed his next tournament officially, although it is expected that he would participate in either the Rome Masters or the Madrid Masters tournaments to prepare for the French Open 2024.
It would be fair to say that the odds won’t exactly be in favor of Shelton because he has a long way to go in proving himself on clay. On the other hand, Ugo Humbert’s performance in the Barcelona Open 2024 could go a long way in determining how the Frenchman’s season goes and how quickly can he rise up in the rankings.
For both Ben Shelton and Ugo Humbert, the competition is set to get more intense as players such as Hubert Hurkacz, Holger Rune, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Alex de Minaur and Grigor Dimitrov, all who are above them in the rankings, have either had a good 2024 season so far or have regained their form.
Ben Shelton prize money earnings and praise from Jimmy Connors
Back in September 2023, Ben Shelton was set to cross the $2 million mark in prize money earnings at the age of 20. This was courtesy of his brilliant performance in the US Open 2023. Shelton reached the semifinals, his first in any Grand Slam. Since then, his prize money has gone up beyond $3 million, now resting at $3,417,837 to be precise.
Jimmy Connors, one of the American tennis stars Shelton emulated, predicted recently that the 21-year-old player will win a Grand Slam this year. Seeing Shelton’s rise at such a young age, Connors’ prediction might just come true. This is what Connors said during his Advantage Connors podcast episode recently –
“I think the next couple of months on clay, whatever it does for him, it’s got to get him in good shape, that’s one thing for sure. If he can get in there and get stuck in and play some matches and have some success, as he had shown in Houston, but then going to the grass.. I think these next couple of months, he’s going to reach the pinnacle if he looks after himself and his game.”
