Alexander Zverev prevailed in four sets, keeping alive a two-decade drought for American men at the U.S. Open. But Shelton, brash and powerful, was the event’s breakout star.
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NEW YORK — Just before Ben Shelton took the court on this muggy afternoon, the rain ceased, the clouds parted and the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof opened for the sunshine.
Over two grueling weeks at the U.S. Open, Shelton had emerged as the breakout star, a brash 23-year-old with a monster serve, unparalleled athleticism, and a hunger for high-stakes competition. He became the first Black man to reach a U.S. Open final since Arthur Ashe in 1972, and he sought to become the first American man to win his home grand slam since Andy Roddick in 2003.
“Why not today, Ben?” somebody in the crowd shouted.
But the drought will continue. Competing in his first Grand Slam final, Shelton sparked moments of hope yet couldn’t break Alexander Zverev. The 29-year-old top seed and reigning French Open champion controlled the match with his reliable serve and powerful groundstrokes, winning in four sets, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-2. Shelton’s exhilarating run in Queens ended as yet another almost for American men’s tennis — but one that leaves fans looking ahead to wonder just how far their new standard bearer can go.
Though Shelton entered the U.S. Open as the highest-seeded American man and played every match on the main court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, he hovered on the periphery through the first half of the tournament, looking shaky and vulnerable in his first two wins. Some fans seemed less interested in Shelton’s play than in the presence of his famous girlfriend, soccer star Trinity Rodman.
Shelton says the big moments are “the part of tennis that I enjoy the most.” The early rounds tend to give him trouble. At the last Grand Slam, Wimbledon, he fell in the first round to 140th-ranked Otto Virtanen, a stunning disappointment in a young career that has bounced between boom and bust.
He didn’t start playing tennis seriously until he was 12, a late bloomer by the sport’s standards. Born in Georgia, he had grown up preferring football and baseball.
But tennis was the family sport. His dad, Bryan, who had grown up in Alabama in what he describes as a “lower-middle class” household, had played on the pro tour and became the first Black American man to win a singles title since Arthur Ashe. Ben’s mom, Lisa Witsken Shelton, had played on the junior circuit, and her brother competed on the pro tour. Shelton’s older sister, Emma, played in college.
The family moved to Gainesville when Bryan became tennis coach at the University of Florida, and after a decorated high school tennis career, Shelton joined his father on campus. His freshman year, Ben Shelton won 28 of 33 matches, and the Gators won the national championship. The following year, Shelton won the singles national title. That summer, he turned pro.
His first year on tour, he smashed the second-fastest serve in U.S. Open history. At his Australian Open debut, he reached the quarterfinals, launching him into the top 50, and at the 2023 U.S. Open, he reached the semifinals before losing to Novak Djokovic. He captured his first title at the 2023 Tokyo Open, then reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2025, ascending to a top-five ranking by the end of his fourth year as a pro.
“I didn’t think he was even going to get into this sport,” his dad Bryan said at a news conference Friday. “And then for him to be where he is right now, it’s hard to believe.”
His raw talent is obvious — even if, as Bryan said, his game “still isn’t completely formed.” On the court, he looks like a football player with a tennis coach for a father: 6-foot-4, 195 pounds, sculpted and rangy, with one of the fastest serves on the tour. He wears a headband and no sleeves.
He has a signature celebration, thumb and pinkie out, picking up a phone and slamming it down. He sticks out his tongue and takes off his shirt far more than the average tennis player. He smirks after aces and roars for even the smallest points, celebrating in ways that have irked some opponents and spectators. To those who don’t like him, he comes off as an ’80s teen movie villain come to life. He sometimes plays like he’s bored.
“I think that really keeping my mind in the game for the duration of the match is really, really important,” he said last week.
After the Wimbledon loss, Shelton returned to Florida to sharpen his game for his favorite tournament, the U.S. Open. He arrived in Queens “a more versatile player,” he said during the tournament’s first week. “I can win in different ways. I don’t have to just go to the well and serve 150 miles an hour to get free points.”
For taking care of business in the early rounds at this year’s edition, Shelton’s reward was a quarterfinals blockbuster against Carlos Alcaraz. Serving on match point at 3:33 a.m., in front of thousands of weary fans, Shelton already seemed to be smirking. After his 149-mph ace sealed the biggest win of his career, he didn’t look shocked or relieved or overcome by any emotions. If his face said anything, it was: Told you. He smiled wide, stuck out his tongue, hung up the phone, savoring “this feeling of ecstasy, on top of the world,” he later said. After the match, Alcaraz called Shelton “a beast.”
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The heightened attention brought Shelton new fans and fresh scrutiny. Online, people speculated on his political leanings, parsing his public statements and social media posts, including a photo with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy at a tennis court.
Shelton carried hopes and history now. His next match, against fellow American Frances Tiafoe, stood as the first grand slam semifinal to feature two Black men. Not only were Shelton’s serves more overpowering than ever, but Shelton also outlasted Tiafoe in sustained rallies that had long been one of his vulnerabilities.
“His game is starting to get more polished,” Tiafoe said after the match. “Instead of just being a shotmaker, he’s holding tough in rallies.”
In the final, he encountered Zverev, the top seed and reigning French Open champion, who might have been the only player to enter Ashe to scattered boos. Two women have accused him of domestic abuse. Zverev, who has denied the allegations, reached a court settlement with one of them in 2024.
On Sunday, small pockets of the crowd jeered him as a villain as the players warmed up under lingering firework smoke wafting up the open roof. Many cheered his double faults. It didn’t appear to rattle him. Instead, the towering veteran took his time, milking every second of the serve clock, inciting more boos.
Shelton, as in his previous two matches, dropped the first set, handing Zverev two games on double faults, looking every bit like a player in his first grand slam final.
His energy picked up in the second set. He hollered on big points. He egged on the crowd. He matched Zverev serve for serve. But at the most pivotal chances, he missed. His shoulders sagged in frustration as he looked over at his dad. In the seven-point tiebreak, Zverev cruised, snatching the set for a commanding lead.
No matter how much the crowd tried to will him on, it seemed Shelton couldn’t quite withstand Zverev’s onslaught, faltering on rallies and struggling to solve the bigger man’s serve. Though he would manage to finally break Zverev’s serve and capture the third set, he ultimately withered in the fourth.
Some in the crowd greeted Zverev’s championship point with boos. Many left before the trophy presentation. Shelton slouched at his chair, shirtless and forlorn.
On the ceremony stage, he thanked his driver, the security guards at the practice courts who make him laugh, and all the fans who stayed till four in the morning to watch his quarterfinal epic.
“I wish this tournament never ended,” Shelton said. “I’m just getting started.”
An hour later, he strolled into the news conference with his hands in his pocket, a contrast from the swaggering saunter that usually follows his victories.
“This one stings,” he said, “100 percent.”
His first grand slam final run had worn him down, he admitted. He had played nearly 30 sets over two weeks, culminating on a humid afternoon that left him “tired at the end of the match,” he said.
But he understood a bit more now what it would take, he said. And he wanted to experience it again and again.
“Such a cool moment walking out on that court today,” he said. “I never felt anything like that before. It’s an addicting feeling.”
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