Ben Shelton's strange 'daddy' revelation sparks honest confessions from John Isner, Sam Querrey & others

On the latest episode of the Nothing Major podcast released on Saturday, panelists Jack Sock, Sam Querrey, John Isner, and Steve Johnson discussed the players that often had their number on the tour. Their discussion arose in light of Ben Shelton’s comments after his win against Lorenzo Musetti in the third round at the 2025 Australian Open.

"He's (Lorenzo Musetti) definitely one of the most talented guys on the tour, one of the top 3 shotmakers on the tour, and he does some things you can't believe when you are on the court. I was 0-2 against him coming into today. We say on tour if someone beats you three times in a row… they’re your daddy. So I was fighting to not let that happen," Ben Shelton said during an on-court interview after the match.

This humorous remark from the World No. 14 caught the attention of fans and tennis experts alike, and referring to this, the panelists brought up the remarks, prompting everyone to share their anecdotes.

Jack Sock named Rafael Nadal, as the Spaniard holds a 6-0 lead in their head-to-head.

Jack Sock: “A lot of people. I am gonna go with, I think I lost to Rafa three or four times, I will probably give him the daddy status. But along with a bunch of other people.” [41:20]

Following this, Querrey asked Isner to tell his side of the story by insisting not to include the ‘big three’- Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. He replied:

"I got a good one. Chardy (Jeremy Chardy), I was 0-5 against Chardy, I could not beat the guy, I had match points on him but yeah." [42:00]

The French player holds a head-to-head record of 4-0 against the big-serving American. Querrey, upon asking Steve Johnson, he shared:

“Yeah, we have spoken about this on the podcast. It’s Roberto Bautista Agut, I am looking it up, 7-0 in a five years span and one match I had match points in the middle and other than that, yeah pretty much packed my bags and booked the flight the next day. Pre-match, so that was a bad sign.” [42:12]

Johnson talked about his long-time Achilles heel; the Spaniard holds a head-to-head record of 7-0 against him.

After the three of them shared their parts, Querrey shared his thoughts:

“Mine early on was Adrian Mannarino, 0-5 against him, I just couldn’t figure it out early on in my career,” he said. [42:33]

They have played seven times in their career. In the first three matches the American played against the French, Mannarino completely dominated him. In the next four matches, Querrey somehow redeemed himself and won all four.

---

Ben Shelton's 'daddy' remark fits perfectly with his H2H record with Jannik Sinner

Ben Shelton (L) and Jannik Sinner (R) at the 2025 Australian Open semifinal - Source: Getty

Ben Shelton reached the semifinals of the 2025 Australian Open, which was his second semifinal appearance at the Grand Slams overall. He was defeated by the World No. 1, Jannik Sinner, in three straight sets.

This was Sinner’s fifth win in a row against the American in the six matches they have played. Shelton only managed to win the first match they had faced. Since then, the Italian has completely overpowered him.

Jannik Sinner doesn’t just have three wins in a row against Ben Shelton—he has five. This makes him fall into the above mentioned category.