Ben Shelton has added another major milestone to his growing career, advancing to his first Grand Slam final at the 2026 US Open. The American had previously fallen in two semifinal appearances, at the 2023 US Open and the 2025 Australian Open, before finally getting past the last-four stage in New York by defeating fellow American Frances Tiafoe at Flushing Meadows.

Shelton’s background is closely tied to tennis. He was born on October 9, 2002, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Lisa Witsken Shelton and Bryan Shelton. His father played professionally and built a respected career before moving into coaching. Bryan Shelton reached the doubles final of the 1992 French Open, made the fourth round of Wimbledon in 1994, won two ATP Tour titles and climbed to a career-high ranking of No 55 in March 1992. He also played more than 200 professional singles matches.

After his playing days, Bryan Shelton coached at Georgia Tech, where the women’s team won the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship in 2007. He later guided the Florida Gators men’s team, which won the NCAA Championship in 2021. In 2023, he stepped away from college tennis to coach his son.

Lisa Shelton was also a strong junior player, though she did not pursue a professional career. Ben’s family connections run deeper still through his uncle Todd Witsken, who reached No 43 in the world and made notable runs at the Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon. Shelton’s sister Emma also played tennis at the college level.

Shelton has spoken warmly about his father’s influence, saying, “We are definitely competitive in a lot of things, but I definitely have to owe my success to him,” and later describing him as someone who “doesn’t sugarcoat things.” He also credited his mother, sister and girlfriend in a post-match speech, saying, “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.”

Shelton did not begin with tennis. He first played American football as a quarterback and only took up the sport seriously at 11. His junior and college path was strong, leading to the NCAA Singles Championship in 2022 before he turned professional later that year. He has since won two ATP Masters 1000 titles, taking the 2025 Canadian Open and defending it in 2026.

Jannik Sinner’s knee problem continues to be managed carefully after the world No 1 withdrew from all three major North American hard-court events and was left waiting on his recovery timeline.

The Italian’s opening stretch of 2026 had already been remarkable. He became the first man to capture all five of the season’s first Masters 1000 titles, and from Indian Wells through to his first-round match at the French Open he put together a 30-match winning run.

What followed was a dramatic swing in fortunes. In Paris, Sinner was forced to stop after suffering severe full-body cramps while leading Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-2, 6-2, 5-1 in the second round. He had arrived there as the biggest betting favourite for any Grand Slam since Rafael Nadal at the same event in 2009.

Four weeks later, he responded in emphatic fashion at Wimbledon, where he successfully defended his title and collected a fifth Grand Slam crown.

Soon after, Sinner pulled out of the Canadian Open, which was not unexpected after he had also skipped the event in 2025. He then withdrew from the Cincinnati Open and the US Open, citing a ‘right-knee issue’ and the need to rest and recover fully.

“Even though I have been working hard with my team and my medical staff, we have now had to make the difficult decision that I will not be able to compete at the US Open this year,” Sinner said in a social media statement.

“We have been back on court in Monte Carlo over the last couple of days and have realised that I still need more time to recover from my right knee issue.

“I’m obviously very sad and disappointed, as New York has a special place in my heart. I was very much looking forward to coming back and playing in the electric atmosphere in front of the great fans there.”

A latest Sky Sports update said Sinner has finished a three-week treatment programme at J Medical in Turin for the extra-articular tendon inflammation behind his missed summer swing. His condition is reported to have improved, and he is expected back in Monte Carlo on Saturday.

From there, he will resume court work gradually and with caution, with the ATP 500 in Beijing on September 30 still his target for a competitive return. The defending champion in the Chinese capital is set to be joined by Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic. Sinner and his team, however, are not expected to rush the comeback.

Alexander Zverev has continued to reduce the distance to Jannik Sinner in the ATP Rankings, while Carlos Alcaraz has slipped further back after failing to defend his US Open title and Novak Djokovic has suffered a major setback.

Sinner set the pace through the early part of 2026, leaving Zverev more than 9,000 points behind at one stage. But the German has steadily improved his position thanks to his French Open triumph and runner-up finish at Wimbledon, and his run to the US Open final has tightened the race again.

Before the final at Flushing Meadows, the gap to Sinner, who missed the event because of injury, had been cut to 2,510. If Zverev goes on to win the title, he could leave New York only 1,810 points behind the Italian.

Alcaraz began the tournament 630 points behind Zverev, having already missed four months with injury. His quarter-final defeat in New York deepened the problem, after he dropped 2,000 points from the start of the event and collected only 400 for reaching the last eight. That leaves him more than 3,000 points behind Zverev, while Ben Shelton has closed to within 880 points.

Shelton’s semi-final run has pushed him five places to No 4 in the Live Rankings, and a title would leave him just 180 points behind Alcaraz. Frances Tiafoe is another mover, rising four places to a career-best No 8.

Djokovic’s early exit has been costly. The 24-time Grand Slam winner is out of the top 10 for the first time since July 2018 after his shock first-round loss to Mariano Navone. Having defended 800 points from last year’s semi-final, he dropped 790 and slid to No 12.

Karen Khachanov, Alexander Blockx, Alex Michelsen, Botic van de Zandschulp, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Arthur Gea, Michael Zheng, Toby Samuel, Yibing Wu and Dane Sweeny were among the other players to make notable gains, while Raphael Collignon, Nuno Borges, Thiago Agustin Tirante, Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Jan-Lennard Struff, Daniel Altmaier, Jaume Munar, Tomas Machac, Alex Molcan, Holger Rune and Jack Draper all moved down.