Ben Shelton defeated Taylor Fritz, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, in the Stuttgart Open final.
It was the younger of the two Americans who prevailed in their first meeting on grass this year.
Shelton won his third title of the season, as both players reminded fans of their grass-court capabilities.
Who is your early shout to win the men’s Wimbledon title?
Former world number one Andy Roddick has now shared what Shelton and Fritz must do if they are to challenge for the Wimbledon title.
Andy Roddick says Ben Shelton needs to break more if he wants to challenge for Wimbledon title
During the latest episode of ‘Served with Andy Roddick‘, the 43-year-old shared his thoughts on Shelton’s Stuttgart Open triumph.
“[Ben] Shelton beats [Taylor] Fritz in Stuttgart. This is a good result; it’s an interesting year,” he said.
“He’s won three times, Dallas, Munich, both big events, now wins first tournament on grass, and he’s sprinkled in some stretches where he loses first or second round for six weeks at a time.
Ben Shelton’s 2026 record (23-9)
| Tournament | Performance | Match wins | Defeat |
| ASB Classic | Quarter-final | 1 (Francisco Comesana) | Sebastian Baez |
| Australian Open | Quarter-final | 4 (Ugo Humbert, Dane Sweeny, Valentin Vacherot, Casper Ruud) | Jannik Sinner |
| Dallas Open | Champion | 5 (Gabriel Diallo, Adrian Mannarino, Miomir Kecmanovic, Denis Shapovalov, Taylor Fritz) | – |
| Indian Wells | Third round | 1 (Reilly Opelka) | Learner Tien |
| Miami Open | Second round | – | Alexander Shevchenko |
| Houston Open | Quarter-final | 1 (Zhang Zhizhen) | Thiago Agustin Tirante |
| Munich Open | Champion | 5 (Emilio Nava, Alexander Blockx, Joao Fonseca, Alex Molcan, Flavio Cobolli) | – |
| Madrid Open | Second round | – | Dino Prizmic |
| Italian Open | Second round | – | Nikoloz Basilashvili |
| Hamburg Open | Second round | 1 (Marcos Giron) | Daniel Altmaier |
| French Open | Second round | 1 (Daniel Merida Aguilar) | Raphael Collignon |
| Stuttgart Open | Champion | 4 (Marcos Giron, Sho Shimabukuro, Jiri Lehecka, Taylor Fritz) | – |
“It’s a strange deal.”
Shelton has an impressive 23-9 record this year, although his form outside of the three tournaments he’s won leaves a lot to be desired.
The American is 9-9 elsewhere on tour.
When he’s on form, he’s one of the best in the world, though, and Roddick believes he could be one to watch at Wimbledon.
“Listen, Shelton made quarters last year, and played Jannik pretty tough. Fritz, semi-finals last year at Wimbledon, played a tough one against Carlos [Alcaraz]; we forget that that was Carlos’ toughest match. Apologies to [Fabio] Fognini, but I think we all felt like he was going to get through that,” said Roddick.
“This is great, this is great news for US tennis.
“Ben and Taylor re-establishing their form on grass.
“Ben winning a lot of tiebreakers, no surprise there; he’s going to have to break a little bit more to really make semis, finals of Wimbledon.”
Shelton only broke six times en route to the title in Stuttgart, winning three tiebreakers.
Roddick then commented on Fritz, who already has five grass-court titles to his name.
“Fritz’s game is plug-and-play on grass,” he said.
“I don’t think there are a ton of adjustments for him to make.
“We talked about hard and flat through the middle, taking the ball’s line, his ball flight has never been accused of being super spinny.
“If he serves well, and wins a high percentage of second serve points, because there is a decent-sized delta between his first serve and his second serve, I like Taylor Fritz a lot at Wimbledon.
“If he looks like he’s in shape, he took some time to get his knee healthy; circle his name.
“I love what I’m seeing from Ben. Little bit of a rollercoaster; we’ll see what they do over the next couple of weeks, but this was a great sign from both of them.
“Happy times. I’m sure neither one of them is disappointed to be off the clay!”
What’s next for Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz?
Shelton and Fritz will compete at the Halle Open this week.
Both players will be expected to make deep runs in Germany, but who will they face in the first round?
Shelton will take on Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in the first round, while Fritz meets Belgium’s Zizou Bergs.
Placed on the same half of the draw, Shelton and Fritz could potentially face off in the Halle Open quarter-finals.
For that to happen, Shelton would need to beat Sonego and Ethan Quinn, and Fritz would need to take down Bergs and Fabian Marozsan.
Neither player will want to get ahead of themselves, though, and will remain focused on their first-round matches.
Shelton and Fritz will play their Halle Open first-round matches on Wednesday, June 17.
