Last year, after seeing his lookalike Darwin Blanch in action at the 2024 Miami Open, Ben Shelton dropped a comment on an ATP Tour Instagram post saying, “Me 2.0.” Other than Miami, Shelton’s lookalike also turned heads when he received the wildcard at the Madrid Open last year. Although the teenager was defeated by Rafael Nadal in his first round match in just over an hour, Blanch did manage to earn praise from the 22-time Grand Slam champion after the match. Talking about this youngster, Nadal said, “I think today I played against someone with a great future in front of him.“

Talking about his chase for excellence, Darwin Blanch recently defeated Jack Satterfield of Tampa, Florida (by 6-3,4-6,6-4,6-4) to win the USTA National Boys’ 18s Championships in Kalamazoo. As a result of this win, this young lad from Boca Raton, Florida, has now earned the US Open main draw wildcard. Expressing his joy for this historic feat, Blanch shared a spot on his IG account with the caption, “Kalamazoo 18 Champion 🥇 See you soon NYC 🗽❤️ #thevision.“

Seeing this post, American superstar Ben Shelton dropped a comment saying, “Good work.” In an IG story, he shared a post featuring his heroics in Kalamazoo with the caption, “US Open 🔜.” Interestingly, in 2023, Darwin Blanch lost in the quarterfinals of the boys’ 18s event; however, the USTA Player Development was so impressed with his enormous potential that they awarded him a wildcard into the US Open qualifying event, which is usually accorded to the event’s runner-up, not a losing quarterfinalist.

But surprisingly, after the wildcard was publicly announced in a press release, Blanch, reportedly pushed by his coaches and mentors, including former world number one, Juan Carlos Ferrero, politely turned down the wildcard. Reason? Explaining this decision in a conversation with Andy Roddick on May 2024 during the ‘Served’ podcast, former pro, Lindsay Davenport said, “It was his team, and I would assume Juan Carlos Ferrero, that said ‘No, you’re not accepting a qualification wildcard at the US Open, you’re not ready’. That’s the message that I got, whether that was from Juan Carlos or someone else on his team, they deemed Darwin not ready for the US Open qualifiers.”

Blanch trains at Juan Carlos Ferrero Academy in Alicante, Spain, and he’s in fact often seen practicing with Carlos Alcaraz as well. Previously, he was also coached by Serena Williams’ childhood coach, Rick Macci. Speaking about Ben Shelton’s lookalike in 2023, Macci tweeted, “American 15-year-old Darwin Blanch will have one of the best forehands and serves on the ATP TOUR in the near future. Everything is science-based and wired correctly from age 6. The muscle memory is brainwashed to optimize execution in sync so you do not have a technical flaw.” He even hails Blanch as one of his favorite students. Darwin Blanch’s best record at the Grand Slams has been reaching the SF of the French Open Junior and Wimbledon Junior in 2023.

Can players like Darwin Blanch make a dream at the US Open this year, and disrupt Ben Shelton’s equations at the last major of the 2025 season? Well, that won’t be easy as the 22-year-old has also been in red-hot form!

Ben Shelton gets off to a winning start at the Cincinnati Open

Straight off from an incredible title triumph at the Canadian Open, where he defeated Karen Khachanov  6(5)-7,6-4,7-6(3), Ben Shelton was well-poised for a nail-biting encounter against Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli in the R64 of the 2025 Cincinnati Open. He started the match impressively, winning the first set by 6-3, but during the first point of the fourth game of the second set, Carabelli was seen struggling a bit with his knee.

He was not moving freely, and then shortly after taking an MTO, the Argentinian decided to retire from the match. Hence, Ben Shelton has now moved to the next round, and he’ll face Roberto Bautista Agut in the R32. However, after this match, Ben Shelton won hearts with his beautiful gesture towards his opponent. He wrote, “Get Better Camilo 🙂,” on the camera lens.

Later on, while sharing his thoughts about this match, he added, “It’s definitely not easy to play a couple of days after winning a title. I feel for Camilo, and it’s obviously not the way that you want to go through. I hope that he has a quick recovery. I’m just excited for the opportunity to play here in Cincinnati. This is the tournament where I had a big breakthrough and one that I never want to miss.” 

Ben Shelton is currently on a seven-match winning streak! Do you think he can keep his winning run intact?