No. 6 Ben Shelton Out of 2025 US Open After Retiring with Shoulder Injury in 3rd Round

Ben Shelton's home Grand Slam is coming to an earlier end than he hoped.

Shelton withdrew from his third-round match against Adrian Mannarino because of a shoulder injury. Shelton was the No. 6 seed in the men's singles draw but struggled with the shoulder injury throughout the first four sets before withdrawing ahead of what would have been a decisive fifth.

The 22-year-old entered the U.S. Open with plenty of momentum and figured to be among the fan favorites as he competed for the first Grand Slam title of his career.

He stunned the tennis world in 2023 when he advanced to the U.S. Open semifinals at 20 years old before losing to Novak Djokovic. Upon his return in 2024, Shelton advanced to the round of 32 but lost to fellow American Frances Tiafoe.

Yet everything seemed to be setting up for a deep run in the tournament this year.

Shelton advanced to the semifinals of the Australian Open, round of 16 at Roland Garros and quarterfinals at Wimbledon. He also won the ATP Masters 1000 Canada last month after reaching the semifinals in Washington D.C.

He has quickly become one of the faces of men's tennis, especially in the United States, but was unable to capitalize on the individual momentum he built in 2025 in the year's last Grand Slam because of the injury.

It seemed as if he was going to cruise to the next round when he won the first set 6-3, but Mannarino responded by winning the second and fourth sets. It was clear during the match that Shelton started dealing with the shoulder injury at some point, and it eventually became too much that he could no longer continue.

This is the last major of the year, so he will have plenty of time to recover before his next opportunity to pursue a Grand Slam title. 

Still, he was surely left disappointed Friday when he was forced to exit.