Ben Shelton and Arthur Fils are known to be great friends. They have often played doubles together on the tour and have also practiced with each other on several occasions. But there’s a running debate as to who is the better player between the two. While Shelton has a better ranking than his French adversary, Fils is considered to be the much better player on clay. But Shelton doesn’t quite agree with that and believes that Fils isn’t as great as he thinks he is.

“Arthur Fils, great player. He is very good on the clay; he is great on the clay. But he thinks he’s even better on the clay than he actually is,” he told the ATP. But this is where Fils openly claimed that if he plays 10 sets against Shelton on clay, then he’ll win eight or nine of them.

“I said to Ben, I think if we played in regular conditions on clay in practice and if we play 10 sets, he wins, maybe one or two,” he said. Shelton called out Fils over the claim and felt that he is way too overconfident about his performance on clay.

“He’s trying to tell me that if we play 10 sets in a row on clay, he beats me in all 10. And I think that’s bulls***. A Little overconfident, huh?” the American replied.

In return, Fils openly challenged the World No. 6 to play 10 consecutive sets against him on clay to determine who is the better player on the surface. “Ben, whenever you’re ready, we do 10 sets, and we see,” he concluded.

Notably, Shelton and Fils have come up against each other on three occasions so far on the tour. But they are yet to meet on clay. All the matches between them have been played on hard courts. Shelton had defeated Fils 7-6, 6-1 at the 2023 Laver Cup in their first-ever tour-level meeting.

Fils had then triumphed 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 against the American at the 2024 Japan Open. But it was Shelton who got the last laugh later during the same year when the two met in the semifinals of the Basel Open. He racked up a 6-3, 7-6 victory to take a 2-1 lead in the H2H record.

When it comes to clay, Shelton has a career win-loss record of 25-21 and a win percentage of roughly 56 to 58%. On the other hand, Fils has a much better win-loss record of 37-20 and a win percentage of roughly 65%. The win-loss record favors Fils, and he also had a considerably better clay-court season than Shelton.

Though both players won a title each, Shelton suffered two first-round and two second-round exits each. In Fils’ case, he also reached the semifinal of the Madrid Open before sustaining a hip injury in Rome that sidelined him from the French Open.

While a first-ever clay-court meeting between Shelton and Fils may be distant, the two can meet next month in the hard swing.

Both Ben Shelton and Arthur Fils have signed up for the Montreal Masters

Both players will likely be in action at the National Bank Open in Montreal, which will commence on August 2. Their names are present on the official entry list of the tournament that was unveiled earlier this month.

If Shelton and Fils do go on to meet in the Masters 1000 event, then the American will be the favorite to win. This isn’t just because of his better record in the matchup, but also because he will enter the tournament as the defending champion.

The 23-year-old went on to win the coveted title last year by defeating Karen Khachanov 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in what was a grueling final. Shelton also defeated the likes of Flavio Cobolli, Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz on his way to the final.

On the other hand, Fils had a disappointing campaign in the tournament last year. He had been defeated by Jiri Lehecka 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round. The Frenchman’s 2025 season had come to an abrupt end due to a lower back stress fracture that he had picked up at the French Open.

The same injury forced him to withdraw from the entire grass swing, and he couldn’t participate in any tournament after the Cincinnati Masters in August. Fils will be aiming to stay fit and have a much better hard-court season this time around.