There is a lot more than a trophy waiting for Ben Shelton on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday, September 13. At 2 p.m. local time, the 23-year-old American will walk into his first Grand Slam final with Alexander Zverev standing across the net and a chance to change several chapters of tennis history at once. One more victory would end a 23-year wait for a Grand Slam singles champion, taking Shelton where no American man has gone since Andy Roddick lifted the US Open trophy in 2003. But beyond that, he can do something that only one man, Rafael Nadal, has done.
Ben Shelton Can Join Rafael Nadal In An Exclusive 21st-Century Club
If Ben Shelton beats Alexander Zverev on Sunday’s final, he will become the first left-handed man since Rafael Nadal to win the US Open men’s singles title. The Spaniard won his last and fourth title at Flushing Meadows in 2019. Nevertheless, the dominant modern lefty won 4 US Open titles (2010, 2013, 2017, 2019).
Shelton has already made history by getting here. He is the first Black American man to reach the US Open singles final since Arthur Ashe in 1972 and the first Black American man to reach any Grand Slam final since MaliVai Washington at Wimbledon in 1996. A victory would take that story a step further, making Shelton the first Black American man to win a Grand Slam singles title since Ashe.
He would become the first American man to win a Grand Slam singles title since Roddick’s 2003 US Open title win. He would also become the first American man to win the US Open since Roddick and the first Black American man to win a major since Ashe’s 1975 Wimbledon title.
First NCAA Former Champion To….
The world no. 9 was the 2022 NCAA singles champion at Florida before turning professional. His jump from college tennis to the highest level has now taken him to a Grand Slam final, making him the first former NCAA singles champion to reach a major final since 1986.
That part of the story matters. Shelton did not arrive through the same path as many of the players now dominating men’s tennis. He spent time in the American college system, developed his game there and then made the jump to the ATP Tour.
Shelton came through an all-American semifinal against Frances Tiafoe, recovering from a set down to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5. Before that, he produced one of the defining moments of the tournament by beating defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set quarterfinal that finished at 3:33 a.m., the latest finish in US Open history.
