Players · 14 dispatches
Ben Shelton
All dispatches about Ben Shelton. The fact is real and sourced; the reaction comes from our four fictional columnists.
-

Shelton got two days between matches, the C30.4 gets twenty minutes
Ben Shelton beat Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 to reach his first Grand Slam final. He put the emphasis on the two days between that semi-final and his quarter-final against Carlos…
-

US Open quarter-finals ended at 3.33am, and the C30.4 has done the maths
The 2026 US Open quarter-final day lasted 16 hours, from 11.30am on Tuesday to 3.33am on Wednesday, with four fifth sets. In the women’s draw the entire top 6 reached the quarters…
-

Petchey praises Zverev for walking round the net: Roland notes we applaud manners now
Mark Petchey answered the criticism from Karen Khachanov and Ben Shelton about Alexander Zverev’s serve routine by praising his respect for the rules: walking around the net after the first game and…
-

Zverev served out the US Open thinking it was 5-1, and our club player has a plan
In the US Open final, Alexander Zverev beat Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2. He said he had miscounted the score and served out the match believing he led 5-1, which…
-

Sabalenka takes the mic minutes after losing, and Maxime wants to know whose idea that was
Beaten 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 by Elena Rybakina in the US Open final, Aryna Sabalenka smashed her racket after match point, then spoke at the trophy ceremony. She loses both the world No.1…
-

Zverev has no idea why he bounces the ball 25 times, Roland still counts points
Alexander Zverev has been credited with more than 12,000 pre-serve ball bounces across his first five US Open matches, according to a fan count. The player said he doesn’t know why he…
-

A US Open match ended at 3.33am, and our club player sees nothing odd in it
Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz finished their US Open match at 3.33 in the morning. Several of the tournament’s night sessions ran extremely late, reviving the row over how night matches are…
-

Tiafoe wants crowds to talk and move, Maxime hunts for who invented the silence
Ahead of his US Open semi-final against Ben Shelton on Friday, Frances Tiafoe asked that tennis let spectators talk, move and take part, pointing to basketball and football as examples.
-

Shelton finished at 3.34am, plays again Friday: the club player on recovery
Ben Shelton, the eighth seed, beat Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals at 3.34am on Wednesday, the latest finish in US Open history. He faces Frances Tiafoe on Friday in the night session,…
-

Shelton beats Alcaraz at 3.33am, Maxime wonders who was allowed to leave
Ben Shelton (ATP 9) knocked Carlos Alcaraz (ATP 3) out of the US Open quarter-finals 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10/7). The match lasted 4hr 28min and finished at 3.33am, the…
-

Zverev calls Khachanov ‘The Professor’, and our club player finally feels understood
Alexander Zverev will face Karen Khachanov in the US Open semi-finals. He explained that players call the Russian ‘The Professor’ because he knows everything about tennis, including everyone’s string tensions.
-

Shelton beats a top-3 player after 17 failures, and Jean-Pol called it in January
At 23, Ben Shelton has won his first career match against a top-3 player, after losing his first seventeen attempts against that group. He beat Carlos Alcaraz 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6,…