Ben Shelton ‘has to take a look in the mirror’ after Wimbledon disappointment

Andy Roddick was convinced an American man would reach the 2026 Wimbledon final, but none of them came close with Taylor Fritz performing best with a run to the quarter-final.

Four American players were among the top 20 seeds heading into the grass-court Grand Slam with Ben Shelton leading the way at No 4, Fritz seeded sixth, Learner Tien 16th and Frances Tiafoe 17th.

But three of them crashed out early as Shelton lost against qualifier Otto Virtanen in the first round, Tien lost against Marton Fucsovics in the second round and Tiafoe was beaten by Alexander Bublik in the third round.

Former world No 1 Roddick had backed Fritz to reach the final as he reached the semi-final at Wimbledon last year, but he came up short against runner-up Zverev in the last eight.

Of the top American men, Roddick was quite critical of Shelton, who won the Stuttgart Open and reached the quarter-final in Halle in the build-up to the third Grand Slam of the year.

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“If you heard our draw show at the beginning of the tournament, I was pretty convinced that we were going to have one in the final,” he said on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast.

“Francis coming in was playing great. Ben, uh, was playing great [but] loses against qualifier Virtanen 150 in the world. Like that one has to like be, you know …

“You are four or five in the world, when you lose that match, you have to take a look in the mirror, the pattern recognition, I don’t think, was there, some weird drop shots and decision-making.

“Ben has all upside, I said like he was, you know, had never been out of the country before he went to Australia maybe quarters or semis [a few years ago] whatever it was. He is not one of the guys who were playing junior tournaments when he was 11 years old. I do give some grace for that, but it has to be disappointing for him.”

Tiafoe was a quarter-finalist in Stuttgart and won the Halle Open ahead of Wimbledon while Fritz finished runner-up at both events.

Roddick added: “Frances losing to Bublik when he was a million set points [up], and Taylor going down, I hope his knee is okay, and I think that was the part of the issue against Zverev, but there is no guarantee that he wins the match against Zverev anyway.

“I think was full of excitement, and rightfully so, because they all played so well coming in. I said that it was the first time I looked at a draw and said it is likely not possible, but likely that there is an American man in the final, not exactly how it shook out, though.”