Ben Shelton was completely wrong with his assessment about his 2025 season after suffering his second loss at the ATP Finals.
Shelton ranked his season as ‘8 out of 10’ after suffering a narrow loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime at the ATP Finals.
The American has most certainly improved in 2025, but to rank his season as high as that shows a worrying issue with the star’s mentality.
Shelton’s serve was questioned at the ATP Finals, but that is clearly not the only thing holding the American back.
There is absolutely no way the world number five has hit heights in 2025 that have earned him the ranking he has given himself.
Ben Shelton has improved in 2025, but he still has plenty to prove
Shelton’s ranking has been bolstered by his best career results at three of the four Grand Slams across 2025.
The American reached the semi-final of the Australian Open, the fourth round of Roland Garros, and the quarter-final of Wimbledon.
These results were impressive, but the 23-year-old fell down in other areas across the season.
| Ben Shelton’s losses to low-ranked players in 2025 | Ranking | Tournament |
| Jaume Munar | 42 | Swiss Indoors |
| David Goffin | 83 | Shanghai Masters |
| Adrian Mannarino (RETIREMENT) | 77 | US Open |
| Learner Tien | 67 | Mallorca Open |
| Arthur Rinderknech | 80 | Queen’s |
| Jaume Munar | 66 | Rome Open |
| Alejandro Davidovich Fokina | 42 | Monte Carlo Open |
| Coleman Wong | 182 | Miami Open |
| David Goffin | 63 | Acapulco |
| Jaume Munar | 64 | Dallas Open |
| Jakub Mensik | 49 | Auckland Open |
Following his retirement at the US Open, Shelton was beaten by David Goffin and Jaume Munar, both of whom are ranked outside the top 40.
He bizarrely lost to Munar and Goffin several times across the season, including in Dallas, Rome and Acapulco.
Shelton also suffered early exits at Queen’s, Monte Carlo, and Rome to players ranked outside the top 40 of the rankings.
He was also embarrassed by World No. 182 Coleman Wong in the first round of the Miami Open, which was his worst defeat of the year.
Ben Shelton’s debut Masters win doesn’t constitute a successful season
Shelton might have captured his first Masters title at the Canadian Open, but it’s worth mentioning that neither Carlos Alcaraz nor Jannik Sinner entered that event.
Shelton was knocked out of three out of the four Grand Slams by Sinner or Alcaraz, which is not a surprise, but it would be interesting to see if either of those two men would rate their season as an eight out of 10.
Shelton has certainly taken giant leaps in becoming a consistent top 10 player, but he’s still got a long way to go before he hits an eight out of 10 season.
There were simply too many slip-ups from the young American to constitute such a high self-rating across the season.
It’s a worry for Shelton’s mentality that he considers this season such a success when there is clearly such major areas for improvement.
