Former world No 1 Boris Becker has singled out the young ATP player who he feels is the most likely to join Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in a “new Big Three.”
The tennis icon feels Ben Shelton is the “closest to reaching the top” as he assessed that his former charge Holger Rune “hasn’t made much progress” this year.
Shelton is currently 17th in the ATP Rankings, having reached a career-high position of world No 13 in August.
The 22-year-old holds a 37-23 win-loss record in 2024, with his best result at a big event so far this season his quarter-final run at the Cincinnati Masters. He won his second career ATP title at the ATP 250 event in Houston in April.
The American reached the semi-finals of the US Open and the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in a breakthrough 2023 campaign. Shelton also claimed his maiden title at the Japan Open ATP 500 in October last year.
Having labelled Sinner and Alcaraz as “the Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer of the future” respectively, Becker turned his attention to candidates who could complete the potential “new Big Three.”
“Now on the circuit, we have another dilemma… we need a [Rafael] Nadal to complete the new Big Three. And another player to follow the Fab Four,” the German told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“The one closest to reaching the top for me is Ben Shelton. The most ready, at first, seemed to be Holger Rune, but this year he hasn’t made much progress.
“I watched the American (Shelton) for a long time in the Laver Cup, in singles and doubles, and I liked his attitude. He smiles, he puts on a show, he entertains and he has fun.”
The six-time Grand Slam champion also addressed the prospect of world No 1 Sinner being “as dominant” as Djokovic.
“Who can say if one day Sinner will be as dominant as ‘Nole’? But we shouldn’t put too much pressure on these players’ shoulders: winning 24 Slam titles is something superhuman, as are 428 weeks as world No 1,” Becker added.
“There is only one ‘Nole’, one [Roger] Federer and one Nadal. But I think that with these guys, tennis is really in good hands.”