ATP Tour

Shelton on Wimbledon upset: ‘One of the toughest losses of my career’

After suffering his first first-round loss at Wimbledon, Ben Shelton put it bluntly.

“One of the toughest losses I’ve taken, for sure.”

Shelton entered The Championships with high hopes as the tournament’s top-seeded American and fourth overall seed, but Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen spoiled the hard-serving lefty’s chance at a Grand Slam run, completing the upset in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(8), 6-2, 7-6(9) nail-biting match.

“I feel like it was an uphill battle all day today,” Shelton, who held a match point and led 8/5 in the fifth-set tie-break, said following the loss. “I was pretty off on my serve spot, so I wasn't getting many free points. I was having to grind through a lot of the games. [Virtanen] was playing really good and downhill from the baseline… The guy came up with some ridiculous stuff in those moments, really good tennis. Sometimes it happens like that.”

Although he is a qualifier, Virtanen is no stranger to the grass at the All England Club. He reached the second round in 2024 when he nearly pulled an upset of another American in Tommy Paul in a five-setter. On Tuesday, Virtanen was on the right side of this five-setter, with his comeback win over Shelton making for the biggest win of the 25-year-old’s career.

Amidst the disappointment of defeat, Shelton credited Virtanen with making life difficult for him on court all afternoon.

“I think the way that he was playing, hitting the ball, it definitely forced my hand," Shelton said. "He's playing aggressive. He wasn't really making any mistakes. Towards the end, any ball I left semi-hanging, he was ripping a winner… I thought I put myself in a great position to win at the end. He came up with the goods.”

The loss marks the first time Shelton has lost in the first round at Wimbledon and the first time he has done so at a major since the 2023 Australian Open.

The fourth seed told reporters after the match that his 2026 season has felt like “a complete roller coaster”. After reaching the quarter-finals at the 2026 Australian Open to start the year, Shelton stumbled in the early rounds of ATP Masters 1000 events at Indian Wells and Miami. A second-round exit at Roland Garros added to the list of tough showings in big tournaments for the 23-year-old American.

But despite these early exits in key events, Shelton’s 2026 season has come with plenty of highlights. He has won three titles (one on each surface), including two ATP 500 events in the Dallas Open and BMW Open, and remains sixth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin as the calendar turns to July.

“There is a lot you can look back on and wish it could have gone differently,” Shelton said. “Obviously for me now, it's just focusing on the U.S. hard-court swing. Obviously a much earlier exit here than I would have hoped, but the best part of the season for me is coming up.”