One American’s United Cup disappointment has just become another’s Grand Slam advantage. While Taylor Fritz’s fall to 7-6(1), 7-6(2) to Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the United Cup was a massive blow to Team USA, the 28-year-old has had to deal with a whole new kind of sting alongside it.

Though Fritz led their head-to-head 4-2, Hurkacz has looked like a renewed player this tournament, beating Alexander Zverev, Tallon Griekspoor, and now Fritz along the way. Though Coco Gauff gave Team USA a fighting chance by leveling the score with a win over Iga Swiatek, Gauff and mixed doubles partner Christian Harrison lost the decider against Jan Zielinski and Katarzyna Kawa.

So, with the U.S. crashing out of the United Cup, Fritz has officially slipped to the ninth seed for the Australian Open. Adding salt to the wound is the fact that he has been pipped by compatriot Ben Shelton.

The main reason was the new ATP rule for the 2026 season, which reduced the number of tournaments counted toward rankings from 19 to 18. The change kicked in on December 29, and Fritz immediately lost 245 points.

He had won the United Cup in December 2024, but this time around, the team exited in the semifinals. Plus, with Fritz unable to play mixed doubles, those points went undefended.

Meanwhile, players like Alex de Minaur, Lorenzo Musetti, and Ben Shelton didn’t lose points and jumped ahead. Shelton now sits at No. 8, right in front of Fritz.

As for the match itself, it was decided by the slimmest of margins, with both sets going to tie-breaks. Fritz even had two set points in the first set at 4–5, but Hurkacz bailed himself out with monster serves.

The second tie-break was especially rough. A double fault from the American handed Hurkacz an early mini-break, and from there, the Pole never looked back. It was a brutal loss. Coco Gauff later stepped up and put the USA on the board, but the damage was already done.

What made things tougher for Fritz was that he wasn’t anywhere near 100 percent. He continued to deal with persistent knee tendonitis.

The issue has followed him since his title runs at Eastbourne and Stuttgart and even through the ATP Finals. That same injury is the reason why he couldn’t suit up for the mixed doubles, with Christian Harrison stepping in instead.

To make matters worse, Fritz’s knee issue also wrecked his offseason. Instead of normal training, he spent weeks focused on rehab and strengthening just to manage the condition. The grind of the United Cup, including a three-hour, 13-minute battle against Jaume Munar, only aggravated it further.

Ben Shelton’s No. 8 edge

Ben Shelton has locked up the No. 8 seed for the 2026 Australian Open, and the timing couldn’t have worked out better for him. He’s coming off of a season where he won his first Masters 1000 title in Canada. But it was also hampered by injury troubles towards the end, and Shelton has a point to prove.

“I made huge improvements and strides from the year before… I had a lot of clarity on what my identity was on the court, how I was going to win, my winning formula,” said Shelton during the offseason.

While it’s hard to picture who could break the Sincaraz deadlock in the ATP, some believe Shelton could be the one to play disruptor. In fact, Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou thinks so too.

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“If you look at the margin those two guys [Alcaraz and Sinner] have above the other players, it’s difficult to imagine,” Mouratoglou told the BBC. “I think the next guy will have to have a huge ego if he wants to be in the mix, so it can be someone like Shelton, maybe. He will have to make progress, but I think his confidence in himself and in his game is big enough.”

No American man has won a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick in 2003, and no American man has reached an Australian Open final since Andre Agassi, also in 2003. The American men have a shot at history in Melbourne Park – could Ben Shelton be the one to rise to the occasion?