ATP Australian Open Grand Slam
Shelton edging toward US Open ’25 form as he reaches Australian Open second week
Shelton reached the Australian Open fourth round without dropping a set, nearing ’25 form. Stronger.
Ben Shelton advanced to the fourth round of the 2026 Australian Open without dropping a set, and his postmatch assessment placed this run just behind his best major form. The No. 8 seed beat Rolex Shanghai Masters champion Valentin Vacherot 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (5) to move into the second week.
“I think that, you know, the best that I’ve played at a Slam was up until I got injured at the US Open last summer,” Shelton said after the win. “I think that this is probably second, but to be in the form that I’m in as early as it is in the year is really encouraging.”
Shelton arrived in Melbourne having shown strong results last season: he claimed the National Bank Open title in Toronto, retired in the third round of the US Open against Adrian Mannarino because of a left shoulder injury, returned to form through the end of the year and made his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals. In this event he opened by defeating Ugo Humbert and has now reached the tournament’s second week for the third time in four years.
“I think that there’s a lot of things that I am doing really well, improvements that I made, and maybe small pieces that I’m doing better than I was doing last summer,” Shelton said. “But in terms of just being in a flow state, completely confident, and knowing what I’m doing on the court, all the nuances of return of serve, using continental skills on the stretch, defense to offense, I was probably just in a little bit better rhythm with all that stuff last summer.
“But I think that I’m serving much better now. I think that the way that I’m able to flatten out the forehand and change speeds on the backhand with the slice, topspin, and flat balls, I’ve seen improvements, for sure.”
Shelton also credited steady training with sharpening his mental resilience: “Whether it’s playing a practice set against someone I don’t want to lose to or my coach putting on a little bit extra pressure that day or dealing with stuff physically and a lot more soreness because I’m on the court two times and in the gym as well each day…you wouldn’t classify it as, ‘Yeah, I’m going to go out and work on my mental today,’ but I think the better and better you get at handling those type of things in a training session, the more that you can stay calm and the longer you can stay out there on the court and the more you can ante up and come back in the afternoon after a long morning session and give 100%,
“I think just helps when you stack it up in the grand scheme of things.”
Shelton will face the winner of No. 12 seed Casper Ruud vs. Marin Cilic in the fourth round. “I think that when you get to this stage in the tournament, every matchup becomes more and more exciting, because, you know, everybody is playing well, everybody is a tough matchup,” said Shelton. “You get to play so many different styles of players throughout the two weeks.
“Obviously two guys with very different styles and contrasting games, and I’ll be looking forward to watching that one for sure.”
ATP
Sinner’s serve numbers reveal a mixed picture despite his dominance
Sinner’s serve stats show elite power, but his first-serve percentage still leaves room for growth.
Jannik Sinner’s serve has long been viewed as a major part of his rise to the top of the men’s game, yet the numbers from the past year tell a more complicated story.
The world No 1 adjusted his service motion shortly before he began establishing himself as a leading force on the ATP Tour, and that weapon stood out again when he defended his Wimbledon title earlier this month.
After losing the US Open final to Carlos Alcaraz last September, Sinner made it clear that he wanted more variety and consistency on serve. His own words at the time showed how deliberate that change was:
“I can say that I’m gonna become a better tennis player and I’m gonna change a couple of things on the serve, just small things, but, they can make big differences and then we see how it goes,” said Sinner. after that defeat against Alcaraz in New York.
“I’m looking forward to play these matches again, something new is now that I’m not No 1 anymore. Now you chase, it’s different.
“Maybe I will lose some matches from now on, but I will try to do some changes, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player and because I think that’s what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player.”
Even with his strong recent run, the ATP Tour figures for the last 12 months show that there is still work to be done in one area. Sinner ranks 35th in first serve percentage at 63.8%, well behind Alexander Zverev, who leads the list at 72.5%.
The Italian, however, is far more dominant once the first serve lands. He leads the tour in service points won at 80.9%, just ahead of Reilly Opelka on 80.8% and Taylor Fritz on 79.7%.
He also tops service games won at 92.9%, underlining how difficult he is to break. Opelka follows on 90.6%, with Ben Shelton third at 90.4% and Alcaraz at 89.9%.
One remaining area is ace production. Sinner is 27th in that category with an average of 8.2 per match, while Opelka leads with 18.5, followed by Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on 15.1 and Fritz on 14.1.
ATP
Sinner climbs to No 4 on all-time prize money list after Wimbledon defence
Sinner’s Wimbledon defence lifts him to No 4 on the all-time prize money list in 2026.
Jannik Sinner’s successful Wimbledon title defence brought more than another major trophy. It also lifted the Italian to No 4 on the all-time career prize money list.
Before Wimbledon 2026, Sinner sat at No 6, with Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer occupying the top three spots and Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz positioned above him. Zverev had recently passed both Alcaraz and Sinner after his French Open run, but the order shifted again once Sinner collected $4,830,756 (£3,600,000) for his latest Wimbledon triumph.
That result leaves Sinner close to becoming only the fourth player to move beyond $70m in career prize money. He has already earned $11,620,364 in 2026 and is on track to break the $20m barrier for the first time in a season.
His rise has been rapid. Last year, he took in $19,120,641, a total that included a record $5,071,000 for winning the ATP Finals undefeated. He finished second on the 2025 earnings list behind Alcaraz, who made $21,354,778, after leading the way in 2024 with $19,735,703.
At the end of the 2024 season, Sinner stood on $37,238,688. Since the start of the 2025 campaign, he has added another $32,347,873. From just $36 in prize money in his first professional year, he now sits on $69,586,561.
Zverev is fifth with $68,392,312, while Alcaraz is on $64,997,598 after not adding to his tally since April because of injury. Andy Murray has fallen to No 7 on $64,687,542, with Daniil Medvedev eighth on $52,192,594. Djokovic, Sinner, Zverev, Alcaraz and Medvedev are the only active players to have passed $40m.
Djokovic remains far ahead in first place with $194,656,816, including $3,000,801 earned in 2026. Nadal is second on $134,946,100 and Federer third on $130,594,339.
ATP French Open Grand Slam
Auger-Aliassime Reaches Career-High No. 4 After Breakthrough at Roland Garros
Auger-Aliassime rises to No. 4 after best Roland Garros run, tying second-highest Canadian rank. Now
Felix Auger-Aliassime moved to a career-high No. 4 in the ATP rankings following his deepest run at Roland Garros, where the 25-year-old reached the quarterfinals for the first time before losing to eventual finalist Flavio Cobolli. The result completed a personal Grand Slam milestone: having previously reached the quarterfinals or better at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, he became the first Canadian man to reach the quarterfinals or better at all four majors in his career.
The rise from No. 6 to No. 4 surpasses his prior best of No. 5 and places him tied for the second-highest-ranked Canadian in ATP or WTA rankings history. The only other Canadians to reach the top four are Milos Raonic and Bianca Andreescu. Raonic went as high as No. 3 in 2016, following his run to the Wimbledon final that year, and Andreescu peaked at No. 4 in 2019 after winning the US Open.
Canadian tennis has seen seven players reach the top 10 in either ATP or WTA history, with official rankings available since 1973 for the ATP and 1975 for the WTA.
Auger-Aliassime still has ground to cover to move higher in the standings. He is 2,865 points behind the current world No. 3, Alexander Zverev, with the rankings showing Zverev at 7,305 points and Auger-Aliassime at 4,440.
The Canadian will shift his focus to grass. He begins his grass-court season this week at the ATP 250 event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, entering as the No. 1 seed. After a first-round bye he will open against either Hubert Hurkacz or Marton Fucsovics.
The new ranking reflects a season of important progress for Auger-Aliassime and cements his place among the highest-ranked Canadians in modern tennis history.
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