NBO champ Ben Shelton shows love to Toronto fans

At the 2025 National Bank Open in Toronto, much was made about who wasn’t there.

Shortly before the tournament, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, and Jannik Sinner pulled out from the event, perhaps prioritizing rest over the new 12-day format.

But for eventual champion Ben Shelton, he sure made the most of being arguably the biggest attraction of the week.

“Yeah, I love getting the crowd involved. Hitting highlight shots, hyping them up. I love hearing the crowd noise. For me, this was a week that I was pretty locked in, probably less crowd interactions, but the tennis that I was playing still got people excited,” Shelton said in a question asked by Offside following the win.

Shelton, who played all six of his matches on centre court, became a quick fan favourite. He moved up to No. 6 in the world after winning the title, quite the rise from his No. 43 rank the last time he played in Toronto two years ago.

Ben Shelton blasts an ace past Flavio Cobolli to advance to the quarter-finals 🚀#NBO25 | @NBOtoronto pic.twitter.com/tP9eUJHAgZ — Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 4, 2025

“For me, it’s a big balance of being myself out there, having fun, smiling, which is just my DNA, and focusing and doing what I need to do to get the job done.”

Shelton’s father, Bryan, who also works as his coach, shouted out his son for winning three third-set tiebreaks on his way to the title.

“He’s a warrior. I mean, I really just, I never, ever bet against him when he’s in those tight situations. I always feel like he’s going to come through, and he doesn’t always, but I always feel that he will, because he just loves to compete,” the elder Shelton said.

What’s next for Shelton?

In 2023, Sinner won the National Bank Open as his first ATP 1000-level tournament. In the two years since, Sinner rose to become the World No. 1, having picked up four Grand Slam titles while also reaching the 2025 French Open final.

But when asked if he saw himself following in Sinner’s footsteps, Shelton was a bit hesitant to think too far ahead past the next tournament in Cincinnati, with his first match scheduled for Saturday.

“I think everyone has a different path. Everyone’s story is written differently. I’ve kind of done it my way. There’s been a lot of guys to look up to, just because how young they have

been when they have broken through, and have had so much success at big tournaments. Tennis seems to be a sport that has young champions all the time, which is not

common or normal, it’s ultra impressive,” Shelton said.

“I hope that this week kind of kick-starts me and gets me more consistent with the type of tennis that I want to play day in and day out. It’s certainly going to push me.”

Shelton and the rest of the ATP men will head to Montreal for next year’s tournament, while 18-year-old Canadian champion Vicky Mboko will be defending her title in Toronto.

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