Ben Shelton is more like the Mercedes-AMG of men’s tennis- young, dynamic, and power-driven! Not always polished, but undeniably built for speed and impact. He’s just 22 years old, but once he masters the control settings, he could become one of the most formidable ‘machines’ on Tour. Coming to his performance in 2025, after having reached the SF at the AO earlier this year, he made a long run (QF) at Wimbledon as well. Following that, although she made it to the SF of the 2025 Citi Open, his journey came to an end at the hands of Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Now, he’ll be keen to accelerate into the winning tracks at the Canadian Open.

After his match against Fokina, Ben Shelton pointed out two flaws in his game. At first, he admitted his struggles with the serve right from the start of that match, and secondly, he didn’t look too pleased with his movements in that match. Perhaps, these two things could’ve cost him a spot in the finals of the 2025 Citi Open. But that’s a past thing, and now he’ll face the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the first round (R64) of the Canadian Open. Before this match, Shelton appeared at the press conference, and over there he faced some quite interesting questions…

During the press conference, literally out of nowhere, a female journalist asked him about the black Mercedes, which Ben Shelton had decided to buy during the AO. She asked her if there was any specific reason behind his choosing a Mercedes-Benz over other cars. Shelton was a bit surprised to hear this question. He asked, “How do you know that?” and then the journalist replied that she had read about it somewhere. Following that, the tennis star gave a nod, saying it’s true, and then she told him that she had heard about him sharing stories about cars on tournament sites. Was that also true?

“She’s a detective, huh? No, yeah, I love cars. That’s the one thing I like. I like classic cars. I like Mercedes-Benz a lot; it’s my favorite type of car. So, oh, yeah, I did post about it. I forgot about that. Yeah, I like ’90s, 1990s Mercedes. I have a lot of issues with them, obviously, and I don’t get that much time to drive ’em, but yeah, something that I enjoy,” said Ben Shelton.

No matter whether he’s on the court or in the driving seat, Ben Shelton always seeks perfection. Last year, during the Cincinnati, he got a bit annoyed seeing a carelessly parked car in the lot. He even took to social media and said, “Hey, I just wanna say. I just pulled into the parking garage at the hotel in Cincinnati, and whoever’s got car No. 164, you should not have a license. I’m sorry, you shouldn’t be able to drive. This is a disgrace. I mean, look at this bruh. That’s outrageous. You should not be driving a car.“

It was also a black car! But whose car was it, though? Further talking about his unpleasant experiences with cars, in February last year, he was left shocked seeing a seizure notice on his luxurious four-wheeler. What happened at that time, though? Well, Ben Shelton showed the Student Green board slip, indicating that he paid for the parking, yet his car was booted at that time.

Despite being a car-lover, Shelton has faced multiple such frustrating moments while taking a drive on the beast. Another example of it came in November 2024, when he looked visibly annoyed with the high cost of car servicing. He said, “This service shop just told me their hourly labor rate is 300/hour when I asked them to do some work on my car. So I said do you have an application? I wanna apply for a job. Crazy world out here.” But thankfully, he didn’t have to switch his job ultimately, and he’s kept doing what he does best on the court!

Ben Shelton believes he has a real opportunity in Toronto

Ben Shelton has played 44 matches this season and has won 27 out of them. Although he hasn’t won any title yet, he reached the SF at the AO, then he also made it to the finals of the BMW Open before making it to the QF at Wimbledon. Shelton couldn’t reach the final of the Citi Open, but he has a good chance of making a longer run in the next tournament as well.

Reason? Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Jack Draper, and Novak Djokovic have already withdrawn from the Canadian Open. Considering their absence at this event, Shelton said, “I guess a sense of opportunity. I think a lot of players probably feel that. For me, I’m excited whenever it’s a big tournament, no matter who is in it, and the more top players in it, the better, you know. I’m sure that the fans feel the same way.“

Having said that, Shelton also added that a lot of great players are “hungry” at the moment to do some damage, and he believes he’s one of them! If he manages to put a good show in these tournaments, he will get a massive boost in confidence ahead of his biggest goal. What’s his biggest goal, though?

“The biggest goal is the US Open, but I love all the early tournaments, lead-up tournaments in the U.S. swing. I always say I want to go one step deeper than I went the year before, and that’s not always the case, but yeah, I hope to have some good results in this U.S. swing,” said Shelton in a recent interview. How far do you think he can go at the Canadian Open?