Ben Shelton had to put an end to his dreams of a European clay court title this year. Facing a defeat against Zhand Zinzen in the second round, the American had to exit the ongoing tournament in Rome, with sheer disappointment on his face. However, besides the fact that he faced an early exit, it seems like the bigwigs see a unique potential in the young tennis star.

Recently, Tennis Channel shared a clip on their official X handle. The video featured a chart that depicted a list of the top 7 players ranked according to the “odds to win 2024 Roland Garros”. The table depicted Novak Djokovic just above Carlos Alcaraz as the least favorite with just 250 and 210 odd points respectively in their buckets. What actually grabbed the attention of the fans was the placement of Ben Shelton in the top position with 6500 points under his belt.

As soon as the post started to catch the attention of fans, they seemed to be disappointed as Taylor Fritz or Casper Ruud according to them, had better odds of being in the top position. A fan, posting a fierce picture of Fritz, wrote, “You clearly favour Shelton but this guy is having the clay season of his life.”

Casper Ruud secured a massive feat by making it to the French Open finals last year. Although he lost to Novak Djokovic, a fan curiously asked why he wasn’t on the list. “And where’s last years runner up Casper Ruud? Please,” he wrote.

“Fritz is more likely than Ben, if we want to include an American on the list. Even Sebastian Korda is more likely than Shelton,” wrote a fan, strictly denying the fact that Shelton deserves a place in the list.

Defending Ruud’s deserving spot in the list, another fan commented, “Bruh what is Ben Shelton doing on that list over Casper Ruud?”

“Ben Shelton?????” another fan wrote, finding himself totally puzzled by seeing Shelton ranked on top of the list.

With these and several other comments on a similar note, the fans made it clear that they wanted either Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud, or Sebastian Korda on top of the list instead of Ben Shelton, who is far off from deserving the top spot.