NATIONAL BANK OPEN

July 28, 2025

Ben Shelton

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Ben, how do you feel the preparation is going for the first Masters 1000 of the summer?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, really good. Happy to be here. I enjoyed playing here in Toronto a lot for the first time two years ago. Yeah, excited to be back.

I feel like I've been playing well. I had a good week in DC last week. So, yeah, excited to get going on Wednesday.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Your major record kind of speaks for itself, the success you've had at the major level this year. But your losses unfortunately have been to two of the best players in the sport. What do you think you're kind of learning about yourself and learning from those matches so far?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it's always good to be able to get to the point where you're playing against the best. Every match that I play, every experience I get playing against one of the best players in the world is huge for me, and I think continues to help develop and move me forward.

For me, it's just learning. Learning what I'm good at, what I'm not good at, what I need to be better at. You know, I'm a player who is developing. I don't think I'm where I want to be yet, and that's kind of what I put all my focus into, after playing matches against some of the best players in the world, what I need to do better to be at that level.

Q. You are a part of this new wave of American players making noise at the top. I was just wondering if there's a sense of competition among you, sort of a friendly race to be the first to win a slam.

BEN SHELTON: I mean, I'm sure, yeah, there's definitely healthy competition. We're all friends, competitors. We all like seeing each other do well, but we all have our own ambitions and things that we want to do in the sport.

It's been cool to just be a part of it, and kind of see the evolution of all the American players on the men's side and how much better we seem to do each year. The women have been dominating for forever, and we're just trying to catch up.

Q. You played here in Toronto two years ago. I think you lost against Alcaraz. What do you remember from that experience, and also how do you feel the conditions here can apply to your game? Do you feel comfortable here in Toronto?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, good crowd, good atmosphere, fast, bouncy courts. Can't ask for much more. It's a little bit warmer here this year than I remember, and the ball's more lively and a little bit faster than I remember. It's conditions that I enjoy and, yeah, just looking forward to seeing what I can do.

Q. Your game has a lot of power and speed. After the Australian Open you decided to buy a black Mercedes. Why a Benz, and does driving it help you reset between tournaments?

BEN SHELTON: How do you know that?

Q. I read about it. Is it true?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it's true.

Q. I also heard that you are known for sharing stories about cars.

BEN SHELTON: She's a detective, huh? No, yeah, I love cars. That's the one thing I like. I like classic cars. I like Mercedes Benz a lot, it's my favorite type of car. So, oh, yeah, I did post about it. I forgot about that. Yeah, I like '90s, 1990s Mercedes. I have a lot of issues with them, obviously, and I don't get that much time to drive 'em, but yeah, something that I enjoy.

Q. Do you ever think about your playing on court when you're driving it and try to compare maybe like control/speed?

BEN SHELTON: No. Not at all. I just push the pedal to the floor and see where we go.

Q. Can you give us a little bit of insight kind of how the field feels in a sense when there's a tournament where like the biggest favorites kind of pull out. Is there a sense of hunger, or the hunger stays the same, is there a sense of opportunity? Can you kind of describe how that feels like, if you have a sense.

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I guess a sense of opportunity. I think a lot of players probably feel that. For me, I'm excited whenever it's a big tournament, no matter who is in it, and the more top players in it, the better, you know. I'm sure that the fans feel the same way.

Some unfortunate pullouts of the tournament this year, 4 of the top 6, I think it is. But, yeah, you know, there's a lot of great players, hungry, in-form players, who are looking to do some damage and, yeah, I think I'm one of those guys.

So we'll see. It's just as tough. There's so many great players on tour. It's not like, Oh, you know, a few of the top guys or guys at the top aren't playing, you know, it's a free-for-all (laughing). I think it's still, you know, just as difficult, and another opportunity to just get matches in and gain confidence going into the US Open.