Is Ben Shelton America's next big sports star? And can he win Wimbledon 2026??

I'm seeing an opportunity if you're reading the tea leaves just culturally of all the US stuff that's going on. Justin Gate and you know had that really cool moment in the White House where nobody gave him a shot including myself. You have the Ben Shelton, the Tommy Paul's, Taylor Fritzes. I didn't see Tafo's name on there. I don't know if he's dealing with an injury or something like that. I didn't get deep enough into it. But can we possibly see we haven't seen an American win a major I think since uh it would it would have been um I'm having a hard time no it was after who's that the good looking guy married supermodel are we talking about men only Andy Rodic I think would be the last one that that would have won and and that's probably like 15 years yeah we're talking men's yeah women's obviously we have we have some amazing women tennis players but we haven't had a man uh any men really make a a real run or even I think Shelton was last one even in a final, but I don't know if you've been paying attention to Ben Shelton and obviously Trinity Rodman and their relationship is getting a lot of kind they're putting them in more of a national spotlight which I think is amazing for American tennis because it's an amazing sport and I think um a lot of that sort of the a lot of the excitement you're going to start to see it hopefully if the US team makes a deep run. We saw what happens when the women's team won uh years and years ago, right? In Atlanta, was it Atlanta or LA? When uh when they won and and the women's soccer team has never looked back, right? You see Venus and Serena and Koko Goff and on all the ladies that that represent America so well on the tennis side, you see how well the ladies do. You kind of need that northstar, right, of someone where you can look at and say, "Oh, it's possible and I'm going to try." And now you're seeing homegrown talent on the US men's so uh soccer team. They might be able to make a deeper run than we're used to them seeing. And it feels like right time for somebody like and you know my pick would be Ben Shelton. I actually I picked Ben Shelton to uh to win in in Wimbledon. I think it would be a massive moment uh in sports and I I think it would really kind of keep the conversation going that that we're maturing and we're not just a football basketball kind of and baseball specific nation. Um do you do you am I talking crazy? Do do we feel like there's an American outside of Ben Shelton that could really get the noise going because I think it's a great individual sport that we could really get behind uh even more so than hot dog eating. You like you like Shelton over Fritz? I do. I do. I think Fritz kind of Fritz and Paul I think kind of fold in those bigger moments. I think they're really good against people like themselves, but I think once you get into the, you know, the top five guys, the the sinners and the Zevs and the, you know, um, actually, I don't want to mess his name out, the Canadian dude, Felix Agu Aguar Allesame. He's awesome. Very long dude. Um, you know, you have guys that are a little bit harder to beat when you get to that pinnacle. I think Shelton just has that I for excuse the kind of super generic term, but he's he's a dog, you know? He wants to compete. He wants to piss you off. He wants to get in your head. He's got a serious serve and just this competitive edge that just feels very real and that I haven't seen since you mentioned Pete Sampas before, uh, Nando, and kind of what you what you see in that killer instinct that you see with Alcarez and center. You kind of see a little bit of that in Shelton. Um, and just that's why I like him over the other Americans in the pool. I like Thafo typically, but I don't see him in here. He's a 3%. Okay. I mean, I I like I like Ben Shelton's girlfriend for sure. Like um he is he has won or he is winning because you know these things are these things are fluid. Got to put a ring on it. Yeah, he's he is winning. And I think that his girlfriend is a a perfect understanding of why we have not seen men win like at a major level in um tennis over I mean since since Andy Rodic or whatever it was, you know, back back when when guys were, you know, at least fighting to be that dude. and and I haven't seen the the interest for men's tennis grow outside of its core audience. I think that the reason that we've seen women's tennis take the next step is because you you saw a Venus and Serena which then inspired the next generation of people who who looked or grew up like Venus and Serena for for the you know for the masses in America at least tennis is still very much a a country club type of sport and it comes with a price tag that most can't afford. So, there needs to be some type of inspiration there that shows it. We're seeing we're seeing the the the the byproducts of professional athletes from football and basketball and their offspring playing soccer, their offspring playing hockey, right? Like, we're seeing playing baseball. like we're seeing those those young men and young those young men infiltrate those sports that we hadn't seen in year, you know, in generations prior. Where is that in tennis? Like where's the like where even if we're just talking about even if we're just talking about the major players in tennis like where's Pete Sanford's son or you know like like where's the where's the person who was the guy who then has an offspring who takes that legacy to the next level. I don't think we've seen it at any different at any type of um level for the men and that's why we've seen it become kind of stagnant. Um, does it does Ben Shelton dating like a really beautiful, you know, super talented soccer player who has a father who's one of the most famous and really really good basketball players to ever play. Does that help him win Wimbledon? I don't know. It's but it it what I like about Shelton as that that person that can inspire the next generation is exactly what you're saying. I think he is an evergreen looking person where everyone could look at him and feel something to relate to him, right? Like I couldn't really nail down what he is uh ethnicity ethnicity wise at all. So that's somebody that can inspire everybody, right? You have a girlfriend who has a father who is directly associated with two things and that's aggression and winning, right? you have somebody that's like, you know, you don't you don't play with that dude because he's going to beat you on the court and he's going to you you'd rather him beat you on the court than anywhere else. You don't want to see him in a parking lot. You don't want to see him in a bar. That's a bad dude. And and she and she moves with grace and and you know, she brought out the soccer ball. She's a good representative of larger things. So, I think to see them in a in a version where they're in the Met Gala and things like that, and they are kind of taking on that uh alternative Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce role, if you will, but in a more approachable way. I think that can get people to talk about them and talk about tennis more importantly. And again, you have somebody I don't know if you guys have watched him play. I don't know if you He's got great arms. I don't know. [laughter] I don't know if anybody's watched him play. He's very much of that like Nick Curio cur curious curios whatever sorry uh almost John Mackenroe cloth of he's in your face he wants to talk trash to you he wants to get in your head he wants to piss you off he wants to talk to the crowd he wants to be booed and I think that's when America and Americans that's who they rally around they rally around the people that are like one verse million they love that Jon Snow taking out the sword with all the horses coming at you right and and does not give me Jon Snow vibes. This is No, don't go off that, John. So, don't go off Don't go off that. Don't go off that. No, but you you know, Chris is bringing up something that's kind of important here, too, about this, right? Like, if you start thinking back in the history of tennis and and you know, tennis in the United States and all that stuff. There are probably more people out there who remember Andre Agassi than remember Pete Sampers. And Pete Sampers was a way better tennis player than Andre Agassi was, but Agassi had the commercials and the flash and and the appeal. So, if you really want the young kids to get into, you know, to get into tennis, like I I'll give a good example. My kid plays golf. I don't play golf, but my kid plays golf cuz he grew up, all his friends grew up, you know, Tiger Woods, America, golf, all that stuff. And, you know, now it's like kind of like a big deal. You need that guy that captures the masses attention. And whether it is in the way of being a great tennis player like a like a Sampress was or whether it's in the way of being a great tennis player and also having like some kind of personality like a John Mackenro is a good example of taking the two the Agassy side and the Samper side and putting it together. You have a guy who has crossover appeal. I mean, you know, Mackenro's probably been in like 50 different shows that I've watched in the past 20 years. You know, he does guest spots and everything over there. And then you also had a guy though that won. So, I think you kind of need both of those things. You know, like Anna Cornova, everybody remembers her name, but she never won anything. So, she never had a following, but we all know her name because of, you know, all the reasons why we know her name. She got a following. No, no, no. Let's Let's clean up. She had a following and she made a bajillion dollars. She made a ton of money because of that. She was the interesting part. She wasn't bad though. No, no, she wasn't bad. Here's the interesting part though, right? We said that we don't know what Ben We don't we don't we look at Ben Shelton we don't know what he is. We should, right? We should because our we as a country, we get behind direction, right? We should. Um, Manzo, what's Ben Shelton's best quality as a tennis player? Uh, I would physically I would say his serve, but I I like his approach to the game is what I like the most about him. Is it Andy Roddit? No. No, it's far more of that. We get behind we get behind weapons. So he he's a he's a he's a um amoeba looking guy, you know, his his father's a black man, used to be a um tennis player, former University of Florida tennis coach, by the way, if you don't know. Retired from collegiate coaching to only coach his son, right? very I mean not very not the same exactly but kind of Venus and Serena-ish you know like bringing his son up in the game we haven't heard a word about it nobody's really talked about it nobody's really what's the story that we get behind other than he's dating a smoke show and it's got to be more than that it's got to be more than you're dating Trinity Rodman who we all would love to be like Trinity Rodman looks like and this is why by the This is why Trinity Rodman is so popular. It's not just because she's beautiful because I think people relate to the she's beautiful um train. It's because she feels like the girlfriend that guys would want to have. Cool, laidback, down to earth, even though parent had a wild and crazy parent. Never seemed to, you know, she's just kind of in her lane. Like what's the thing that's going to draw us to Ben Shelton? I'm sorry. um yeah to Ben Shelton that's going to make us endear to him. We loved Andy Rodic. We loved Pete Sampris because they had those serves and those things were out of the world. We loved um Andre Agassy because he was just like this dogged determined never like it felt like Andre Agassi was always punching up. It never he felt like the underdog all the time. Very similar to Jimmy Connors in a way, right? Like we we we gravitated to those those people as tennis players because they gave us something that we could latch on to and ride behind.