Nitto ATP Finals: ‘It’s time for the men to step up’ – Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton seek inspiration from US women
By Aleks Klosok, Amanda Davies, CNN
Turin, Italy (CNN) — 2025 was an epic year for American women’s tennis.
Two singles grand slam champions in the shape of Madison Keys and Coco Gauff, who reigned supreme at the Australian and French Opens, respectively.
An American featured in all four singles grand slam finals, with Amanda Anisimova finishing runner-up at both Wimbledon and US Open finals.
Statistically, it was the most successful season for American women on record in nearly a quarter of a century.
The bold accomplishments and records by their compatriots are not lost on male counterparts Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton.
Inspired by the repeated achievements of the US women, the American duo – who compete at this week’s season-ending Nitto ATP Finals in Turin – stand ready to grasp the nettle and write their own piece of history.
“It’s not just this year that they’ve had really success, it’s pretty much every year for a long time,” Fritz tells CNN Sports.
“The women have been really carrying US tennis, so it is time for the men to step up.”
Upwards trajectory
And step up is what the US pair have done.
After four American women – the aforementioned trio plus Jessica Pegula – competed in the WTA Finals in Riyadh earlier this month, the most since 2002, Fritz and Shelton have laid down their own marker.
The 28- and 23-year-olds, respectively, became the first pair to represent the US in the singles at the men’s equivalent event for 19 years.
You have to go all the way back to 2006 in Shanghai for the last time that happened, when major champion Andy Roddick and James Blake made up the eight-man field.
That year, Blake made an impressive run to the title match before eventually losing out to Roger Federer.
Fast forward to this year and Fritz returned to Turin for a third time, having been a semifinalist in 2022 and a runner-up last year, while Shelton is making his debut.
Despite his loss to Jannik Sinner in the 2024 Final, for Fritz, it was the cherry on top of a career-best year that saw him reach the final at Flushing Meadows off the back of two grand slam quarterfinal appearances in Melbourne and Wimbledon.
“I felt like my level at the end of the year was really good,” says the 6-foot-5-inch right-hander.
“I proved a lot of things that gave me a lot of confidence that I’m really right there and also made it clear as well, the things that I need to improve on … moving forward to try to contend against the other top guys.”
‘This is where you want to be’
While not scaling the same heights this year, Fritz has still added two trophies to his cabinet.
For Shelton, 2025 has been a year of marked improvement, backed up by a maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto – his biggest tournament victory to date.
All this having finished outside the world’s top 20 last year.
And the rising Atlanta-born star is relishing the opportunity to compete with some of the biggest names on the biggest stage this week.
“This was a big goal for me at the beginning of the year,” he says smiling.
“I knew that I had my work cut out and had a lot of improvements that I needed to make to be here at the end of the year.
“This is where you want to be, this is where you want to end your year … making the last push in a place like this with a lot on the line makes it pretty easy.”
And an added incentive lies in both players knowing that whoever performs better on the blue indoor courts of Turin will end the year as the No. 1 American.
Grand slam quest
Shelton, though, is not content with just participating.
He, like Fritz, wants to regularly compete for the biggest and best prizes in the sport.
And that means winning majors.
While in this day and age and on current form it seems hard, if not near enough impossible, for anyone to lay even a glove on the current irresistible force in the men’s game – that of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz – the American is convinced the stranglehold can be broken.
It’s a bold claim, considering he and Fritz have combined for just two wins in 22 official matches against the dominant duo.
Sheldon’s rationale? Depth, resilience and desire among the US contingent.
“We have multiple guys at the top of the game and we want to be dominant as a country,” he says confidently.
“We’ve had our work cut out for us to catch up to the women who have been dominating … but we’re getting closer.”
It’s been over two decades now since the US last crowned a men’s grand slam singles champion. Only Fritz has come closest to ending the hex.
“I don’t have a time frame. I’ve said a lot that’s for the media to speculate,” Shelton explains.
“There’s too much talent right now for us not to break through at some point. The media will write article after article about the drought or who’s going to be the next or when is going to be the next.
“I just know that it’s inevitable and I’m just excited to kind of be a part of that surge,” he said.
Time will tell whether that prophecy comes to fruition.
The-CNN-Wire
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