Ben Shelton had to pull out of the 2025 Japan Open in Tokyo. The reason? That shoulder injury he picked up at the US Open is still bothering him.
This isn’t great news for tennis fans who were looking forward to seeing him play.
Shelton’s been having a pretty amazing year. He’s sitting at number six in the ATP Rankings right now, which is seriously impressive for a guy who’s still so young.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Shelton | 23 | 2,590 | 19 - 11 |
Going into the US Open, people were really talking about him as a potential champion. And why not? He’d just won the Canadian Open just weeks before heading to New York.
But then things went sideways on home soil.
Shelton cruised through his first two matches at the US Open. Everything looked good until his third-round match against Adrian Mannarino. That’s when he hurt his left shoulder.
The injury was bad enough that he had to think carefully about what came next.
His first tournament after the US Open was supposed to be the Laver Cup in San Francisco. But Shelton decided to skip it, which honestly made sense at the time.
The Laver Cup is basically an exhibition event – fun to watch, but not crucial for rankings or anything like that.
So when he pulled out, most people figured he was just being smart about his recovery. Better to rest up than risk making the injury worse, right?
But now he’s also withdrawing from the Japan Open, and that’s a bit more concerning.
The Japan Open is an ATP 500 event running from September 24th to 30th. Shelton should’ve been one of the top seeds there. His name was on the entry list, but it’s not anymore.
The shoulder just isn’t ready yet.
Here’s what’s interesting though – Shelton’s name still appears on the Shanghai Masters entry list. That’s a much bigger tournament, an ATP Masters 1000 event.
So he’s clearly hoping to be back in action by then. And there’s a good reason why he’d want to be.
The ATP Finals Race is Heating Up
Shelton really wants to make it to the ATP Finals this year. It would be his first time at the year-end tournament, which is basically tennis’s version of the playoffs.
Right now, he’s sitting pretty well in the race. With 3,710 points, he’s the fifth player in the 2025 ATP Race.
The top eight players make it to the ATP Finals. But this year there’s a twist that might actually help Shelton.
Novak Djokovic is currently third in the race and will probably stay in the top eight. But here’s the thing – he’s shown basically zero interest in playing the ATP Finals at this stage of his career.
Of course, that could change. If Djokovic qualifies, he can still show up in Turin and compete. So nobody can really count on him skipping it.
But it does create some breathing room for guys like Shelton.
The numbers look pretty good for the American right now. He’s got a 720-point lead over the ninth-placed player, which sounds comfortable.
That ninth-placed player is Jack Draper, but there’s a catch – Draper ended his 2025 season early because of his own injury issues.
So Draper won’t be catching up to anyone.
The real competition comes from Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian has 2,705 points, which puts him 1,005 points behind Shelton.
That’s actually a pretty big gap. Even if Shelton had to miss every remaining tournament this year – which hopefully won’t happen – he’d probably still qualify for the ATP Finals.
But missing tournaments like the Japan Open definitely doesn’t help. Every match is a chance to add points and create more cushion.
The Shanghai Masters will be crucial. If Shelton’s shoulder is ready by then, he’ll want to make a deep run. Not just for the points, but to show he’s fully healthy heading into the final stretch of the season.
For now, it’s all about getting that shoulder right. At 22, Shelton has plenty of time to make multiple ATP Finals appearances. But this year feels special – his breakthrough year – and you can bet he doesn’t want to let it slip away because of an injury.
