Ben Shelton is gearing up for his fourth appearance at Roland Garros.
Currently ranked sixth in the world, the American reached the fourth round last year, marking his best finish at the tournament to date.
He was beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in that round, who went on to lift the title.
This season, Shelton has already taken part in five clay-court tournaments and picked up his first ATP 500 title on clay at the Munich Open.
Shelton spoke to atptour.com about what he’s learned from a challenging start to 2026 and how it’s helped shape him.
Ben Shelton on the ups and downs of his 2026 season ahead of Roland Garros
Speaking at his pre-tournament press conference, Shelton described the year as “super up and down” for him. Despite some frustrations, he noted that being sixth in the race gave him a different perspective.
“Honestly, I’ve been kind of disappointed in my season, and then I look and I’m six in the race.
Shelton has had two strong runs to titles this year but has also faced early exits in several tournaments.
He highlighted inconsistency as an area he’s focused on improving: “But I think that that inconsistency has been a big piece for me that I’ve been trying to iron out, and improve.”
“It certainly hasn’t been an easy year for me on the court, off the court, but that’s one piece moving forward that I’m definitely trying to get better at.”
Shelton also pointed out another goal: converting good runs into titles more consistently: “And at the same time, to be able to be finishing out weeks and finishing, you know, when I do make runs with titles is another one of my big goals.
“So on one side, very happy, and on the other side, you know, there’s a lot to improve upon, get better at. I’m still not the player that I want to be and I have a lot of work to do, but, you know, winning titles and going deep at slams is my biggest goal is for sure.”
Shelton will begin his Roland Garros campaign against Daniel Merida Aguilar, a player he hasn’t faced before. If he progresses, he’ll meet either Aleksandar Vukic or Raphael Collignon in the next round.
Further down the line, Jannik Sinner stands out as the clear favourite in Shelton’s section of the draw. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Frances Tiafoe are also notable names in this quarter.
