Ben Shelton is going against a whole lot of history in Sunday\u2019s U.S. Open final: a 23-year Grand Slam drought by American men; an even longer 51-year dry spell by black American men; his own winless record against Flushing finals foe Alexander Zverev.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All the negative numbers add up. And the sum total is ugly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shelton, though, is undaunted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, this whole tournament now at this point has been uncharted territory,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cI\u2019m in positions I\u2019ve never been in before. I\u2019ve beaten guys that I\u2019ve never beaten before. I\u2019m just excited to put it all out on the line. Yes, I can think about how cool this moment is and what I\u2019m playing for.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ben Shelton celebrates during his four-set win over Frances Tiafoe in their U.S. Open semifinal match on Sept. 11, 2026 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Jason Szenes for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, I\u2019m here in New York, hanging out with my team, with my homies, playing a little tennis. And I\u2019ve been able to downplay the moment pretty well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s admittedly a lot to downplay, having already broken through to reach his first Grand Slam final \u2014 and become the first black American to make one since MaliVai Washington at Wimbledon in 1996, or the first at the U.S. Open since Arthur Ashe in 1972.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Shelton\u2019s goals are set even higher.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s aiming to break a string of 90 straight majors without an American winner, become the first to win a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick in 2003, and the first black American to claim one since Ashe at Wimbledon in 1975.\u00a0<\/p>\n
None of that appears to faze him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maturing both on and off the court, Shelton is 4-0 this year in finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t want to jinx him here, but if you look at his record throughout his career, he\u2019s played well on Sundays,\u201d Shelton\u2019s father\/coach Bryan said. \u201cThat\u2019s where he wants to be. He feels like he\u2019s going to play his best tennis at the end of [tournaments]. So, glad he has a chance at the U.S. Open.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This tournament is a different test from the ATP Masters 1000 Canada, Stuttgart, Munich and Dallas. And the top-seeded Zverev is a different challenge. But Shelton is in a good headspace coming into their meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ben Shelton hits a forehand return during his U.S. Open semifinal win over Frances Tiafoe. Jason Szenes for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I handle these big situations I have in my career pretty well. I feel that confidence and belief take over,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cThe nerves are always there. It\u2019s something you\u2019ve got to lean into. The nerves are as much there in the first round for me as in the semifinals, and I\u2019m sure the finals will be the same. It\u2019s something you\u2019ve got to be able to overcome.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for me, I\u2019m having fun. I\u2019m playing against the No. 1 seed, Grand Slam final, playing against a Grand Slam champion trying to get my first. It\u2019s a lot of reasons that this is an enjoyable moment for me and knowing I can leave it all out there on the court and push myself to the absolute limit in every way and see what I can do is an exciting, exciting thought.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shelton is 0-5 against his veteran foe. But the big-hitting lefty has Zverev\u2019s attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alexander Zverev rips a forehand during his U.S. Open semifinal win over Karen Khachanov on Sept. 11, 2026 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Jason Szenes for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cBen is a big, powerful guy,\u201d Zverev said. \u201cMassive serve, massive groundstrokes. Everything he does is just big.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The head-to-head history bodes ill for Shelton. The Floridian won the opening set of their first meeting back in 2024 but hasn\u2019t taken one since.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But after being winless against Stefanos Tsitsipas and Carlos Alcaraz, Shelton beat both in this tourney. After having lost to Frances Tiafoe here two years ago, Shelton beat him in the semifinals to get to Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alexander Zverev hits a backhand return during his U.S. Open semifinal win over Karen Khachanov. Jason Szenes for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cProblem-solving has been the name of the game here,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cI was 0-1 against Stef, 0-3 against Carlos. [Tiafoe] beat me the last time we played on this court. It\u2019s been a lot of uphill battle, so I\u2019m fully ready for the challenge to problem-solve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a different player. I have so many more tools. I feel like I know my identity, am comfortable in my own skin, and I know what it takes for me to be playing top-level tennis. \u2026 So, I\u2019m looking forward to the challenge, being able to problem-solve on Sunday. I know what I\u2019m up against, and I\u2019m also the most confident I\u2019ve ever been in my game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Shelton is going against a whole lot of history in Sunday\u2019s U.S. Open final: a 23-year Grand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[12082,431,99,428,14687],"class_list":["post-846487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alexander-zverev","tag-ben-shelton","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-us-open-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}