Tennis Hall of Famer predicts where Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton will be ranked at the end of the 2026 season.
Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton are currently the two top ranked American players on the ATP Tour.
Fritz and Shelton have a good relationship, despite being in direct competition with one another for the spot as American number one.
That status currently belongs to Fritz, who finished the 2025 season as the world number six after winning two titles this year.
Despite this, neither Fritz nor Shelton are the top ranked ATP player from North America, but they are likely to be encouraged by the prediction that has been made about them.
Steve Flink makes 2026 ranking prediction for Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton
Fritz finished the 2025 season as the world number six, while Shelton ended the year as the world number nine.
When rating their respective seasons, Tennis Hall of Famer Steve Flink suggested that Shelton had the higher chance of challenging for Grand Slam titles, but backed both players to finish 2026 inside the top five of the ATP rankings.
“It’s true he [Shelton] lost those matches to [Jannik] Sinner, Australia was a semi and Wimbledon was a quarter, and he was probably going to go into the same territory at the US Open if he hadn’t got hurt against [Adrian] Mannarino with a terrible shoulder injury,” Flink said on the Court-Side with Beilinson Tennis YouTube channel.
“Also, that really disrupted the end of his year, you could see he came back and you could see he was rusty and he wasn’t ready and they pressed a bit in the year-end championships and didn’t give the best account, he tried hard and played as best as he could against that stellar field.
“But, I think he definitely made big progress this year and I see him getting another Masters somewhere along the line next year and maybe he would be the guy outside of Novak [Djokovic] with the best chance of squeezing into a final somewhere. Maybe he has that great day and knocks off a Sinner and [Carlos[ Alcaraz and makes his first major final, we’ll see.
“But, I’m very encouraged about him and one of the reasons I am is that his father [Bryan Shelton] to me seems to be one of the best minds in the business and it’s beyond knowledge, it’s just the way he handles his son.
“Most parents are so far over the top and they couldn’t handle that coaching role, because their emotions get in their way, they get in their own way with their emotions. He doesn’t do that, he’s just entirely positive with Ben and he’s bringing him along beautifully, so I feel like he’s going to make some strides and when we’re really going to find out is the year after. This coming year is going to be great, but I think 27 is going to be that much greater.
Flink continued to speak about Fritz, “As for Taylor, he has said more than once that he won’t be fulfilled unless he wins a major. I admire him for having the guts to just put that out on the table, put that out for public consumption and say it, but it’s going to be so hard for him to achieve.
“He basically stayed at the same level this year, he wasn’t far from the top, he was four in the world for [20]24 and he could well have got back into the top five this year with a better Turin, but it didn’t quite work out.
“Despite the disappointing first half to the year, to be in the semis of Wimbledon and not only push Carlos tough there, but twice have set points to get into a fifth set, which would have been spectacular, and then he played Novak tough and that was a quarters.
“So, the last two majors were impressive and didn’t do as well in Turin, but I think we are going to see him maybe turn up the notch a little higher again next year and I actually do expect him to finish next year in the top five with Shelton. I expect them both to be in the top five next year.”
When was the last time two American men were both ranked inside the top five of the ATP rankings?
Despite finishing the 2025 season as the world number nine, Shelton did actually break into the top five earlier this year.
Shelton achieved a career-high of world number five for one week in November, while Fritz slipped down to world number six.
This means that the wait for two American players inside the top five of the ATP rankings continued, and has not happened for over 20 years now.
The last time two American men were ranked inside the top five of the ATP rankings at the same time was in November 2005, when Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi were world number three and five, respectively.
This is some contrast to the WTA Tour, which has two American women in the top five, and four inside the top 10 right now.
