The serve came first. Ben Shelton, born in 2002, arrived as a left-hander who could push the radar past 240 km/h, with the legs to chase down whatever came back. He learned the trade in college, winning the 2022 NCAA singles title for the University of Florida. Then, in only his second US Open, he ran to the semi-finals as the last American man standing, a breakthrough that ended against Novak Djokovic but announced a very big ceiling.
He turned that promise into hardware. His first tour title came in Tokyo in 2023, the start of a run to 7 career titles, capped by a maiden Masters 1000 crown in Canada in 2025. A second major semi-final followed at the 2025 Australian Open, and later that year he reached a career-high world No. 5. Against Jannik Sinner and the young order, the serve keeps buying time to build the rest.
Four. That is how many US Open titles Novak Djokovic has already won, and the draw made on 27 August 2026 puts him on course to meet Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion who also won the title in 2022, in the semi-final. Both are seeded in the same half of the 128-player field; play starts on 30 August.
Draw taleEleven. That is where Arthur Fils sits in the ATP rankings now, one place outside the world's top ten, after a run to the Cincinnati title carried the 22 year old up from No. 21 and into the top 20. It is a career best for Fils, and it makes him the only Frenchman in that group.
Ranking tale