US OPEN

August 22, 2025

Ben Shelton

Press Conference

An interview with:

BEN SHELTON

THE MODERATOR: Ben, welcome. If you would, your thoughts on this year's US Open.

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, really looking forward to it. You know, this is the biggest tournament of the year for me. This is the one.

I put a lot of work into being in a good place when I got here. Feeling confident about my game. Feel really good and prepared going into this tournament, so...

Feel great. Just excited to get out there, see what happens.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You talk a little bit about being comfortable here. The crowd, very emotional here. You're an emotional player. How do you sort of keep that in check? If you're aware of it? I imagine this is the sort of situation where someone might be able to get a little too swept up in the emotion of what's going on and the noise and all of that. Do you police yourself in any way through a match?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I mean, I think that was a little bit more of a thing for me when I was younger. I think I'm an entertainer at heart. But I have kind of figured out what state I need to be in to be locked in but also having fun at the same time.

You know, I'm never going to be the guy who just, like, is able to robotically go about my business and not change expression or show any emotion. I think that I play better when I do show some emotion.

Everyone is completely different. But me finding that state where I compete the best and also enjoy myself is important. I feel like I think this summer kind of found that state where I want to be at.

Q. You are going to be out there about as early as you can be. I want to ask your thoughts on having a Sunday start now here. Do you think that's a good idea? Does it bother you? Is that going to be too big a gap maybe between your first two matches or you don't really care about that? I also wanted to ask you about Arthur Ashe Stadium. Is there any way in which being in such a big place that's unlike any other place you play in terms of the size there, does that affect anything in terms of the actual play when you're down there like a little ant in the bottom of that court?

BEN SHELTON: I don't know. It feels pretty good in there when I'm striking the ball, so... I don't really have an issue with the size. I love it. I like seeing the big stadium looking up, especially when the seats are full. That's something I really look forward to. No, I don't feel any type of way about that.

With the Sunday start, I understand why the tournaments would want to do it. You get an extra weekend day of ticket sales. That's huge for a tournament like this.

You know, having two days off is, I guess, not needed. I always feel, especially after a first-round match, one day is enough for me to recover, but I wouldn't say it's going to hinder me having that second day off. If I win - what is it - Monday, Tuesday, then the second round would be Wednesday.

I don't think it's that big of a deal. For me, I played Sunday in Paris. That one was a little different, because then the guy second round pulled out. So it was five days in between my first two matches. That was a lot trickier.

But for the most part, you know, I like starting early. I think it's an advantage to be on the early side of a slam, and then late in the tournament, I don't know if it's between quarters and semis, you get two days off if you're on that early schedule.

So, I mean, I'm not going to complain about that.

Q. Patrick McEnroe predicted this week that an American man would win the tournament. A little bit of a copout because he wouldn't tell us who it was. Obviously you and Taylor or Frances, Tommy are kind of in that group. What do you think about that prediction? What will it take for an American man to win? Obviously these other two guys have won the last seven majors.

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I'd love to see it. I feel like there has been a lot of guys who have been close here. Foe is always on a different level when he plays here. Fritz was in the finals. I think Tommy always plays really well here, too.

This is my favorite tournament. I think that we've got a lot of guys, even guys that you didn't mention, who can make deep runs here and play against the best players in the world. I think that it's a matter of time for us.

You know, I think that the media will keep probably asking questions and debating until that happens. I can't wait for that to happen (smiling), then we can kind of move on to a different question.

But yeah, I think there is lots of guys that I could see do it.

Q. How would you describe the challenge of knowing and then potentially facing Alcaraz and Sinner to get to the championship?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, it seems like, you know, if you want to win a big title these days, that's who you've got to go through.

I kind of take these tournaments one step at a time. I'm not really a guy who's looking that far ahead. I'm focused on, I think I play a qualifier my first match. I'm focused on whoever that is and getting through round one.

I think some guys do really well looking ahead in the draw, seeing who they are projected to match up against and who they'll see in this round, if they have a good draw, bad draw. I kind of just look at the guy in front of me.

I think that, you know, for me, I get too far ahead of myself, and next thing you know you trip over your own feet and you don't even give yourself a chance to get started.

I'm kind of focused on round one. You know, we all know what's happened this year so far, and really the last two years. But yeah, I'm not really looking that far ahead.

Q. Great support team and obviously your relationship with your dad. Kind of a personal question, but your middle name's Todd and your late uncle was a fabulous player, top five in dubs. Comes from a really big family. Could you talk about him? Has he had any meaning in your life? Just talk about that aspect.

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, middle name after him, Todd Witsken. He passed a couple years before I was born, brain cancer. Great player. Top 30 maybe in singles. 2 or 3 in doubles. Comes from a massive tennis family.

I've got tennis roots on both sides. I think he won Toronto twice in doubles. That was pretty cool. Now I've won a title that my dad's won and now I've won a title my uncle's won, even though it was doubles.

So yeah, it's cool. A lot of people tell me that athletically there are some similarities between me and him. He was built a little bit more like me. Not quite as tall but great athlete. A lot of guys just talk about how much they enjoyed being around him back in the day.

Yeah, tough obviously situation. But, yeah, I think that it's cool for me to kind of be able to follow in the footsteps and follow a couple, like, figures in my life who have done cool things in the tennis world.

Q. We have seen this week Jack Draper switched his clothing manufacturer. For you, what do you get out of the On partnership, how important that thing is to you and tennis players.

BEN SHELTON: What was the question?

Q. Your relationship with On is a similar situation as Jack. I wonder for you how important that sponsorship is, what you get from it compared to being with a different brand.

BEN SHELTON: I just don't get the comparison, because I started with On.

Q. He's moved. He is not with one of the big ones.

BEN SHELTON: So On is not a big company? Did you see the earnings report a couple of weeks ago?

Q. I mean the conventional ones for tennis players.

BEN SHELTON: It's not a Nike or adidas? Sorry, bro. I don't like that question (smiling).

Q. In the days before the Open where emotion can play such a big part of it, you have worked on your game hard, your movement, backhand, do you find yourself trying to make your best shots better or your weaker shots shored up?

BEN SHELTON: I think it's a combination. You don't want to fixate too much on one thing. It's like once you get close enough to the tournament, you know where you're god at, you know what you can count on, and that's the things that you want to stick with.

But for me, it's always a process of trying to improve and get better. I think it's a mix. There's certain things that you know you want to shore up and not be a liability, but in crunch time there are certain plays, certain shots that I'm going to count on and look for. That's going to be what I'll be okay with, winning or losing with.

Q. You shared recently that you deleted X from your phone to get you prepped for the US Open, and also you like to watch matches as highlights. What else do you do to help you prepare for the Open this year?

BEN SHELTON: I deleted X like two-and-a-half years ago. I haven't looked back.

But yeah, I think for me, kind of my evolution as a professional and as an athlete, just being smarter about my preparation and what I do in the days before or the day of, watching film has been a big one for me.

I think it's really important. I think that being able to visualize what you're doing out there on the court is important, and see the things that you want to do and the plays you want to make before you make them. That's been a big one for me.

Once I get to that place where I have seen those things that I have a clear mind about what I want to do out there on the court, I'm a lot more at peace before going into the match. I'm not still thinking or up in the air about how I want to play or what I want to do out there on the court.

I think the night before or morning of, being able to figure out exactly what I want my game plan to be, how I want to play, and kind of just let it go, and then when match time comes, I'm okay with just walking on the court, you know, trusting myself and not overthinking it.

Q. It was great seeing you play mixed with Taylor. How do you feel the mixed doubles tournament went? Would you be eager to do that again here and other tournaments?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I think it went great. I don't know if mixed doubles has ever filled up big stadiums like that before. I played with Taylor in 2023 and we actually did have some pretty good crowds, but this year was obviously another level.

So I think that if you asked the tournament, they'd say that it was a success. Yeah, you had a lot of big names play. It was tough. Obviously it was Tuesday, Wednesday, and most of the players who were in were either playing Monday in Cincy or playing late in Cincy, and, you know, kind of came here, hit once, or if you're Iga, probably didn't hit at all and went out and played. Her making finals, that was pretty impressive.

I enjoyed it. I love playing doubles. I said that my doubles career was over at slams because of how difficult it is with the schedule and playing three-out-of-five sets, but if any of the other slams did something like this where it was kind of in the pre-week, I'd think about playing again, 100%.