Ben Shelton continues to make a name for himself on the tennis court and after claiming his first ATP Masters 1000 title, the American looks set to be a Grand Slam contender for years to come.
The 22-year-old registerd 16 aces as he beat Karen Khachanov 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in the Canadian Open final and landed the biggest trophy of his career to date but who raised the rising US star?
Who are Ben Shelton’s parents?
Shelton was born on October 9, 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia to mother Lisa Witsken Shelton and father Bryan Shelton.
He comes from a tennis family with his father Bryan a former professional player. His career highlights include reaching the doubles final of the 1992 French Open and his best singles appearance was the fourth round of Wimbledon in 1994.
Shelton achieved a career-high rank of No. 55 in March 1992 and played over 200 professional singles matches in his career.
After his playing career, he served as the head coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women’s tennis team who won the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship in 2007. Shelton was in this role when Ben was born.
He then took the coaching job of the Florida Gators men’s tennis team of the University of Florida and in 2021, the team he coached won the NCAA Championship.
Shelton remains the only head coach to have won a national championship in both men’s and women’s NCAA Division I Tennis.
In 2023, Shelton retired from college tennis to coach his son Ben.
As for his mother Lisa, she too was a good tennis player who had a successful junior career, although ultimately did not pursue the career professionally.
Ben is also the nephew of Todd Witsken who was a professional player, reaching a career high rank of No. 43 in November 1989.
In 1988, Witsken made it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, losing to Ivan Lendl, and made the fourth round of the US Open in 1996.
At Wimbledon, Witsken made history with the longest men’s singles match when his second-round tie against Greg Holmes lasted 5 hours 28 minutes. That record stood for 21 years until it was broken by John Isner and Nicolas Mahut in 2010.
Shelton’s sister Emma also played tennis at the college level.
What has Ben Shelton said of his parents?
Shelton has often been glowing in his praise of his dad, saying he owed his career to him.
“We are definitely competitive in a lot of things, but I definitely have to owe my success to him,” Shelton said in January, after reaching the Australian Open quarter finals.
“He’s been coaching me since I picked up a racquet, he’s the guy that’s kept my head screwed on when I get a little out of line.
“He’s just been a great role model for me in the tennis world so it’s been amazing for me to have a tennis parent who has been through all the hardships and experiences of being a pro on tour.”
Shelton also praised his dad for his honesty, saying after his Canadian Open victory that his father “doesn’t sugarcoat things.”
“He knows me really well. He doesn’t sugarcoat things, he’s honest. I think I take things well from him because I respect the career he had as a player, I respect him as a coach, obviously, and I respect him as my dad. He respects me in the same way.”
Shelton also praised his mother Lisa, sister Emma and girlfriend Trinity in his speech.
“My whole extended family, especially my mom, my sister, and my girlfriend, they’ve been with me every single day, even though they haven’t been here in Canada. And I’m just really blessed to have the people I have in my life.”
MORE ON BEN SHELTON ON T365
What prize money will 2025 Canadian Open men’s and women’s singles champions receive?
What was Ben Shelton’s junior career like?
Shelton actually did not start life as a tennis player but instead in American football. Playing as a quarterback, Shelton did not start tennis properly until he was 11 and put the decision to switch sports down to a lack of a growth spurt.
“I saw that my dad was a college coach and knew a lot about the game,” he told the New York Times in 2022. “My chances of going far in the sport and having that resource was definitely going to be helpful.
“The other thing was I grew kind of late. So going into the end of middle school, there was a lot of huge kids in football, and I hadn’t really hit my growth spurt yet. I was maybe a little tired of getting bashed up all the time.”
Having swapped the pigskin for the racket, Shelton won the 2019 USTA Boys 16s Doubles Clay Court tournament before reaching the final of the 2020 USTA Boys 18s Singles Winter Nationals.
At college, he played for the Florida Gators, the team his father used to coach, and helped them win the Southeastern Conference and the 2021 NCAA Championship.
His career progressed well with more titles, including the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American Championships which he won without dropping a set and his record was 37-5 in his second year of college.
In 2022, he became the NCAA Singles Champion and ended the season as the nation’s top-ranked collegiate player, earning both SEC Player of the Year and National (ITA) Player of the Year honours. That same year, he entered his first ATP event, the Atlanta Open.
He defeated Ramkumar Ramanathan for his first ATP win before losing to John Isner in the second round.
In August, he confirmed he would not be returning to college and instead turned professional, signing with a member of Roger Federer’s TEAM8 management firm.
Read next: How much prize money and how many points did Ben Shelton and Karen Khachanov earn at Canadian Open?
The post Who are Ben Shelton’s parents? The former tennis pro behind the rising American star appeared first on Tennis365.