What Rod Laver said about Ben Shelton in 2023 looks very interesting after his win against Carlos Alcaraz
Ben Shelton produced one of the best-ever performances to defeat Carlos Alcaraz for the first time in an epic five-set contest at the US Open.
Shelton has been one of the form players at Flushing Meadows this year and his big serving was enough to get him over the line against the world no 3.
Until his win against Alcaraz, the American had never beaten a player ranked inside the top three of the ATP Tour rankings and it ended a run of three defeats in a row against the Spaniard.
Shelton is now a heavy favourite to win the US Open, particularly on home soil, and that would make a mean Rod Laver’s 2023 prediction would come right.
In a social media post in 2023, Rod Laver said he was confident Shelton would win a Grand Slam title and that was when he was just 20 years old.
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“Shelton is the new player on the Tour. We’re going to see him winning a Slam,” said Laver, which is looking very prescient now he’s in the semi finals of the US Open.
The star is the second highest ranked player left in the draw, behind Alexander Zverev, and he will play his compatriot Frances Tiafoe for a place in the US Open final.
Laver was very complimentary about Shelton’s game and highlighted several aspects which he believes could make him a future Grand Slam champion.
“He’s got one of the biggest serves, a big left-hander, he doesn’t make many mistakes,” listed of Laver. “He sees and opening and he goes for it.”
Shelton has been on the cusp of greatness for the last few seasons and he has shown glimpses that he could land a major very soon.
The star has won two Masters titles, both of which came at the Canadian Open, and he’s reached the latter stages of three out of four of the Grand Slams.
The star has been in the US Open semi finals before, back in 2023, but he was beaten in straight sets by Novak Djokovic.
He made the semi finals of the Australian Open too in 2025, but he was beaten in straight sets by Jannik Sinner. Shelton’s best-ever performance at Wimbledon, in 2025, also came to an end at the hands of Sinner.
Without either Sinner or Novak Djokovic left in the US Open this year, and already having beaten Alcaraz, Shelton will be hoping to capitalise and earn the first Grand Slam title of his career, just as Laver predicted three years ago.
