Ben Shelton admits he’s done already something he never thought he would after just three years on the ATP Tour

These performances, coupled with his solid outings at some of the tour’s lesser-known tournaments, have earned the American recognition amongst his peers.

The American, who is now mixing with the likes of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, will look to continue on an upward trajectory at the Canadian Open this week.

Shelton spoke to the Tennis Channel after his latest victory, noting he has achieved something he never thought he would after just three years on the ATP Tour.

Shelton’s never thought he’d break into the top 10 after three years on tour

Speaking to the Tennis Channel, Shelton described his feelings in regards to breaking into the top 10 players in the world.

The big-serving American, who has failed to defeat a to-10 player in 2025, swept past Adrian Mannarino in the Canadian Open second round, by a score of 6-2 6-3.

Shelton said: “Yeah I mean it’s pretty cool for me. I never thought I’d be in this position after two, three years on tour.

“It’s been fast, you know. I think we forget sometimes what’s normal and what’s not normal because of how fast the guys at the top of the game have done it and how well young guys are playing.

“It almost seems like I did it slow [laughing] compared to some of these other guys.

“But I’m happy with the way that I’m progressing. I think, you know, tennis is a long game. My evolution into the player I want to become is very long-term and you know I have a lot of things in my game that still need to be shored up.

“So I got a lot of goals I’m working towards at the end of the year. There’s some things to be happy about, hitting these milestones in the middle of the year, but I’m definitely a guy who is looking for the end of the year and kind of where my 2025 ends up.”

Shelton’s competition

As per the ATP live rankings, there are only 135 points separating four players in the ATP top 10.

Ben Shelton, Alex de Minaur, Holger Rune and Lorenzo Musetti have all moved on to the third round of the Canadian Open, so the rankings may change significantly as the week progresses.

However, seventh-ranked Ben Shelton sits just 135 points above 10th-ranked Lorenzo Musetti. The Italian is on 3235 points as things stand, with Holger Rune just above on 3290 points.

Just 40 points separate Rune from Alex de Minaur, and a further 40 points separate the Australian from Shelton.