ROLAND GARROS

May 25, 2026

Ben Shelton

Press Conference

B. SHELTON/D. Merida

6-3, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Obviously conditions today played a factor. How was it for you, and yeah, how did you feel you played that first match?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I mean, I thought the conditions were pretty normal, you know, in my match. It's nice to play on warm weather. I think I'm very good in warm weather.

Yeah, being at a slam, I'm always confident.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the ON commercial. I feel like all the brands are stepping up their game a bit with some of these elaborate ads. What was it like to be part of that? How do you rate your acting skills?

BEN SHELTON: Which one?

Q. There was one with many of you...

BEN SHELTON: Oh, yeah, yeah. No, it was sick. It's always fun to be able to collab with other athletes and other stars that the company has. It's fun, you know, to kind of do that a few days before the French Open started, but it was cool.

It was a great idea of the release or the drop of the new kits. I think they look great. Honestly one of my favorite kits so far. Happy with how they came out, yeah.

Q. Ben, just having played very hyped matches both on Ashe and Chatrier, I wonder if you can compare for me the experience of playing matches in those two places? Obviously you get a lot of support in both places, but it's a little bit different inside of Ashe.

BEN SHELTON: You said Ashe versus Chatrier? You know I didn't play on Chatrier today? I mean, Ashe is my favorite court in tennis. There's a buzz about that tournament that's different from everywhere else, but Chatrier was quite the experience and certainly quickly became one of my favorite courts in tennis.

It's massive, looking all the way up to the top. Even just the court size is massive. To be able to play on a court like that that has so much history is really cool. I've been lucky.

I've played many times on center court at all the slams. Except for Wimbledon. Wimbledon is the only tournament I haven't played on center court. I'm kind of pissed about that, but they're all great.

Q. You mentioned the size of Chatrier. There's all different dimensions, it seems, on these courts and these grounds. I'm sort of curious, do you factor that in to how you play, how much space there is in the back, on the sides, what shots you're going to be using? If so, how?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, 100%. You play out on Court 7. The guy can't return from 20 feet behind the baseline. There's just not as much space.

So for me I know that using rising serves, heavier serves, they're going to struggle with a lot more, because they can't go back far enough that the ball is going to drop.

At the same time, those outside courts I feel are a little bit quicker and more slippery. You can move a little bit better on the courts that are inside the stadiums, and it slows down a little bit, which on a day like today, I actually like having a little bit more clay, playing a little bit slower, and being able to control the ball.

But on clay there's so many different factors depending on the day, the weather, the type of clay, like you said.

Actually, Lenglen is pretty small compared to Chatrier, the court dimension. I felt like some of the slice serves that I hit, I had the guy on the side fence, and there's not quite as much room behind the baseline, so I really like playing on that court.

Q. In the second round you're going to play a Belgian player, Raphael Collignon. Do you know anything about him?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, he's a great player. I feel like he made a big breakthrough kind of last year, the year before. I honestly haven't watched him play a bunch, but I've seen, you know, a lot of the results that he's had. He's beat some great players over the last year, year and a half.

Obviously a big guy, serves well, and looking forward to the first matchup with him.

Q. I'm not sure how big of a basketball fan you are. Are you following --

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I follow it.

Q. I've been speaking to some of the players about Wemby and what he's been able to do? Do you wake up and look at the highlights, the stuff that he's been able to do, especially in this series? What are your thoughts on what he's doing?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I have a lot of thoughts. I think he's a ridiculous basketball player. I think he's probably the best player in the world right now, in my opinion. I mean, the guy is 7'6" pulling up from the logo. He's doing some of the most ridiculous stuff I've ever seen in my life.

I think that they're going to win, to be honest. I'm cheering for him. I'd love to see the Spurs get a title this year. I think that they have a certain edge to their team that I like, like I enjoy watching them. We were talking about it this morning. They're probably the most fun team to watch that's still in.

Yeah, I follow a good bit.

Q. Of the most outrageous things he's done, because every day there's something. Is there anything that sticks to your mind that kind of blew your mind, like some highlights are ridiculous?

BEN SHELTON: In that one game where it was, like, game on the line and a guy pulls up from 40 feet, like, he's Curry from the exact spot that Curry hit a shot game on the line in the conference final. Like I said, he's 7'6".

Q. Ben, the American men put three in the round of 16 last year. That was a huge performance. Two more in the quarters. The general consensus I've gotten from Frances and Alex and even people in the media is that these conditions, this heat, faster playing court is good for all you guys as a group, but you just seem to have your own specifications on that where you like it a little slow. I just wondered in general if you think this heat is good for the American men?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, every guy is different, you know. I think that in general, yes. I think that we're more used to dealing with it. All of us live in Florida, so that physical part becomes less of a factor.

Yeah, most of us do play well on fast courts, but I think that it's just the stage that we're playing on. One, it's a slam. You know, it's covered by TNT, Bleacher Report. Especially for me and Frances, those are, like, where we watch all our NBA highlights.

So it's cool to see that they picked up this tournament, and there's so much hype in the U.S. around this tournament now. I think that that plays a big role in the improvement and results, in my opinion.

I think that the heat is a factor as well and is going to help us, but I expect, you know, good things from this U.S. group that we have in this tournament.

Q. Your favorite grounds, probably the hard court, but how did you adapt your game to be better on clay or to be more comfortable in maybe the sliding? You trained a lot about on the sliding?

BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I train a little bit of sliding, and I think that with my game style you have a little bit more time. I think putting an emphasis on being able to find a lot of forehands, dictate with my forehand, is really important.

But, yeah, the movement is the most important piece.

Q. Knicks fan here, so be careful.

BEN SHELTON: They look good, too.

Q. Appreciate that.

BEN SHELTON: They look good, too.

Q. Do you think that tennis is going to have to make some courts bigger, the way that golf has expanded holes --

BEN SHELTON: I hope.

Q. -- the way you guys are all playing?

BEN SHELTON: I feel like they're already massive, you know? I do feel that there's certain tournaments that it's, like, for the size of tournament it is or being on clay. Like, for example, Rome center court is very small, you know, compared to, like, the center courts here. There's no space there. It's tight.

This is really, like, my first time hitting on it this year, and I expected it to be bigger. I don't think that Chatrier or Ashe or, you know, the Wimbledon's center court stadiums need to be any bigger, but I could see tournaments making some of the outside courts a little bigger just to have a more standardized field of play just so it's not such a shock.

Like you're playing US Open outside court, and you feel like your back is against the wall and the guy is serving a thousand miles an hour, and then you're in Ashe, and you have 45 feet behind the baseline.