“Our family is very conservative... Ben Shelton just wanted to do things differently” - American's father Bryan Shelton

Ben Shelton's father, Bryan, recently opened up about his son's upbringing and how he has diverged from their family's "conservative" values. Shelton comes from a family deeply rooted in sports, with his father, sister Emma, and even his mother Lisa playing tennis.

Shelton is currently in California and will begin his campaign at the 2025 Indian Wells Masters. Ahead of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, the World No.12 sat with Vogue for an exclusive interview. During the interview, Bryan spoke about his son's unique approach to life

Bryan stated that they are a "conservative" family and, Ben Shelton has always deviated from it, refusing to conform to traditional norms. He revealed that the 22-year-old always wants to do things his way and differently than others

Bryan Shelton added that the one thing his son did follow in his family's footsteps was tennis, a sport he picked up after watching his sister, Emma play.

“As a kid, Ben just liked doing things his own way. Our family is very conservative, and everything he wore had to be neon. He wanted his hair to be long . He just wanted to do things differently . But somewhere along the way, a little switch went off. I think he saw Emma going to play on weekends and getting to travel and thought, Man—that sounds like fun,” Bryan Shelton said.

This season, Ben Shelton reached the semifinals at the 2025 Australian Open before falling to the eventual champion, Jannik Sinner. He then faced early exits, losing in the second rounds at the ASB Classic, the Dallas Open, and most recently, at the Mexican Open in Acapulco.

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“I could’ve cared less about tennis and his playing days when I was younger”: Ben Shelton on his father Bryan last year

Ben Shelton & Bryan Shelton at the 2023Wimbledon Championships [Image Source: Getty Images]

Last year, during a press conference, Ben Shelton revealed that his father, Bryan, who played tennis professionally, didn't share much about his playing days and that he also didn't care about it much

“He’s [Bryan Shelton] not really a guy who likes to talk about himself. So he didn’t really volunteer that information when I was younger and I was playing other sports. I could’ve cared less about tennis and his playing days when I was younger (laughs),” Shelton said.

The World No.12 revealed that, since joining his team full-time, Bryan has started offering valuable advice based on his own experiences of playing pro tennis.

“It’s not something we really talked about, but within the last couple years when I came out here on tour, it’s more like advice given the experience that he had, rather than him just storytelling,” he added.

Looking ahead, Ben Shelton will kick off his campaign at the 2025 Indian Wells Masters in the second round after receiving a first-round bye. He will face either Learner Tien or Mariano Navone in his opening match.