Boris Becker Explains Why Ben Shelton Should Hire Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras As Coach

Ben Shelton ended the 2025 season with one title, the Canadian Open, which is also his career's first Big Title.

Boris Becker Explains Why Ben Shelton Should Hire Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras As Coach

Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Ben Shelton (Image via Tennis365, X/Quindici Zero, Ben Shelton HQ)

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Ben Shelton has been working with his father, Bryan Shelton, as his coach, while Dean Goldfine is his traveling coach. Tennis great Boris Becker thinks the youngster should add American tennis greats Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras to his entourage.

Shelton took home his career’s first Big Title by defeating Karen Khachanov at the Canadian Open. He also reached the Munich Open final but failed to beat Alexander Zverev.

Shelton reached a career-high No.5 earlier this month and finished the year as the No.9 player. He also played his career’s second Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open. Thanks to these performances, the 23-year-old qualified for the ATP Finals for the first time this year. Shelton, however, failed to progress to the semifinals as he lost every round-robin match.

Becker, during the Becker-Petkovic podcast, lavished some praise on the American as well as his dad for his job as a coach. But the six-time Grand Slam singles champion thinks Shelton can play tactically better if he hires someone like Agassi or Sampras.

So for me, one of the favorite players of the year. I like his personality, I like his charisma, I like the way he plays tennis. But I think he could play tactically much better. And the boy is number five in the world. His coach is his father, who was also a world-class player and has a lot of knowledge about the sport. But I think, if I may ask the question, that Ben Shelton should think about a super coach. I think of Agassi, I think of Sampras.

Sampras has never coached a player professionally, but Agassi has. The eight-time Grand Slam champion coached Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov. Denmark’s Holger Rune also had a three-day training block with Agassi. Agassi was also the captain of Team World in the Laver Cup. His team stopped Team Europe, led by Yannick Noah, from defending their time.

Boris Becker lauds Ben Shelton’s personality

Boris Becker thinks tennis needs charismatic personalities, explaining why someone like Ben Shelton is important for the sport. Becker thinks Shelton is one of those youngsters who inspires people to watch tennis.

Ben Shelton Canadian Open 2025
Ben Shelton (image via National Bank Open)

We need charismatic, good personalities, where the boys and girls in the world go to watch, cheer them on. Turn on the channel to watch them. That’s why I’m a big fan of Ben Shelton.

Boris Becker said during the Becker-Petkovic podcast

Shelton ended his season with a 40-24 win-loss record. Also, this year, he retired mid-match for the first time in his career. During his third-round match at the US Open, Shelton suffered a shoulder injury and was forced to give a walkover to Adrian Mannarino.

Jannik Sinner thinks Ben Shelton has the best serve

Ahead of the ATP Finals, five players were asked to build their perfect player from those who qualified for the event. The first question was who they think has the best serve, and World No.2 Jannik Sinner picked Shelton’s name.

Ben Shelton Canadian Open 2025
Ben Shelton (image via National Bank Open)

Taylor Fritz also chose Shelton, who also picked himself. But World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz disagreed as he thinks Zverev should come first. The only player who agreed with the six-time Grand Slam champion was Alex de Minaur.

Shelton smashed 607 aces this year and committed 198 double faults, winning 87% of the service games. Zverev’s ace tally was 577, but his double fault count was 152. He also won 87% of the service games.

Zverev ended the season with one title, the Munich Open, which he won by defeating Shelton. He also reached three more finals, losing the Australian Open and the Vienna Open to Sinner and the Stuttgart Open to Fritz.

Also read: Davis Cup Director Admits the Event is Open to Changes Following Alexander Zverev’s Criticism