Ben Shelton disagrees with what has been said about the Paris Masters courts after beating Arthur Rinderknech

Ben Shelton fought back from a set down against Arthur Rinderknech to advance at the Paris Masters on Thursday afternoon.

Rinderknech was well on his way to causing yet another upset at the Masters 1000 event, before Shelton launched a stunning comeback.

With the match tied at 3-6, 6-4, 6-6, Shelton found himself 2-4 behind in the final-set tiebreak.

The American ultimately willed himself to victory, triumphing 7-5.

Following the third-round contest at the Plenitude Arena, Shelton was asked a pertinent question regarding the court speeds at the Paris Masters.

Ben Shelton disagrees with the Paris Masters being labelled as having the fastest courts on the ATP Tour

“Since they started measuring court speed on tour, this is the quickest court there’s been. How is that transferring to the game and to your game?” an ATP spokesperson asked Shelton during his on-court interview.

Shelton – who recently hired Juan Carlos Ferrero as his new coach – quickly responded, stating that he disagreed with the notion of Paris owning the fastest courts on the Tour.

“I don’t agree. I think Basel last week was faster,” Shelton stated. “I think Cincinnati was also faster, but that’s just me.”

According to Tennis Abstract, the 2025 Paris Masters had a surface speed of 0.94 – a rating that falls in the bottom half of court speed measurements across all ATP Tour events.

However, this analysis must be taken with a pinch of salt at this moment in time, as Tennis Abstract are yet to publish their court speed data for the 2026 Paris Masters.

“But yeah, it’s something to get used to,” Shelton continued. “I normally like a slower, high-bouncing, hard court. My game is also very effective on the surface if I can feel more and more comfortable, which I do each year, and just trying to get one per cent better each day.

Ben Shelton’s projected path to the Paris Masters title

• R1: BYE
• R2: defeated Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4
• R3: defeated Arthur Rinderknech 3-6, 6-4, 7-6
• QF: Tommy Paul
• SF: Lorenzo Musetti
• F: Carlos Alcaraz

“I feel that my game has cleaned up so much that I’m able to extend points on the surface, handle pace a little bit better, return better, and I think that makes all the difference.”

Ben Shelton previews match against Tommy Paul

Much is at stake for Tommy Paul at the Paris Masters.

At the start of this week, Paul had a slim chance of reaching the ATP Finals – he was 12th in the race.

However, following the early exits of Novak Djokovic, Alex de Minaur, Frances Tiafoe and Rafael Jodar, Paul now has a chance to qualify for the end-of-year finals for the first time in his career.

Unfortunately for Paul, he will need to go through Ben Shelton to achieve this goal.

“It’s been a long time, honestly, since we’ve been on the court, but I’m looking forward to it,” Shelton said of his compatriot on Thursday.

“He’s in great form right now, great player, great friend. I’ve been rooting for him all year to make a push and make it to Turin. And I think it’ll be fireworks tomorrow.”

As Shelton remarked, Paul has been in impressive form as of late, defeating Daniel Merida, Holger Rune and Quentin Halys without dropping a set.

Paul and Shelton have a 2-2 record on the ATP Tour. Paul won their last match at the 2024 Dallas Open, triumphing 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-finals.