I have a theory that men’s tennis in 2026 is defined by two groups: those with superpowers, and those without.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the visible examples of superpowered tennis: precision and power at all three levels, insane angular creation of shots that, until they hit them, did not yet exist in human society. Everyone else may bring one aspect or another to the table — perhaps a inhumanly massive serve, a ridiculous forehand, or a vicious court control. But you have to have something to succeed.
For American Ben Shelton, his superpower is his serve. His first serve erupts like a volcanoe of yellow fuzz off his racquet, as one imagines the ball screaming “woooooooooo” as it flies down a 140 mile per hour roller coaster. He’s refined his game around that skill, and has become a fiery, fan-favorite player at the US Open in front of his home crowd.
But at the 2026 competition, he has his work cut out for him; with every passing year, the dire state of American men’s tennis gains even more clarity: it is in purgatory, and Ben Shelton might be our best chance to drag it out of the shadows. No pressure, dude.
Shelton has not had the best 2026. After a solid opening to the campaign at the Australian Open (he lost to Sinner in the quarterfinals; nobody is blaming him for that) Shelton (sorta) faltered on clay and grass. He won a title on each surface at Munich and Stuttgart but struggled in the French Open and at Wimbledon, losing to a qualifier in the latter.
It looks like a classic case of “top player simply cannot win five-set matches,” but I think that’s reductive of Shelton’s actual skills. His career winning percentage in Grand Slams, the only best-of-five tournaments, is actually better than his winning percentage in best-of-three set matches. His heavy serve plays well in the kind of point-trading environment a five-set slog can turn into, and Shelton is 7-4 in fifth sets in his career. He may just lack Grand Slam experience … since he’s only 23 years old.
But being the highest-ranked American man means one thing and one thing only: the two decades of abject failure since Andy Roddick won the 2003 US Open fall squarely on his shoulders. When you’re ranked in the top five, fans will believe you can beat the likes of Sinner, Alcaraz and Djokovic. But Shelton has never been able to do that; he’s 9-24 all-time against top 10 players, and while that’s obviously skewed by his age and early career stats, he has a moderately problematic 1-12 record against the aforementioned big three — yes, he beat Sinner in 2023… and has since lost to him nine consecutive times.
Of course, who the heck can beat those guys except each other? It’s once again not really fair to blame Shelton for the failures of American men’s tennis, but he simply is the one true hope going forward. The US Open is the one tournament in which Americans always have the crowd on their side, and Shelton is an excellent people’s player. He loves hard court, having played the vast majority of his career matches on the surface. If it’s going to happen for Shelton, it probably happens in Queens.
I continue to believe he has the chops to win a Grand Slam if he can just catch a break in the bracket. He has a superpowered serve, a proven ability to win five-set matches, and is continuing to improve his physical tools. He also has age on his side; he’s actually younger than both Sinner and Alcaraz (we’re talking months here, but let me have this) rather than Taylor Fritz, who is five years older than all of them. Shelton is my chosen savior of American men’s tennis … at the moment. And in a sport that has increasingly been reduced to “can you beat Sinner or Alcaraz?” and the answer is just “no” all the time, the fact that I look at Shelton and simply answer “probably not” is a major victory.