THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to the National Bank Open where you are defending champion, even if you didn't play here last year. How is the feeling coming back as a defending champion?
BEN SHELTON: We should just do a one-on-one interview, huh? Nobody else here.
Yeah, no. It feels great to be back. It's a tournament that I love playing. Obviously won in Toronto last year, but Montreal is a great city, a fun city to be playing. And yeah, super happy to be back here.
Q. Obviously Toronto this is the biggest title of your career last year. How do you kind of approach coming into this tournament here knowing that you have all these points to defend in what's a really bunched-up part of the rankings where you kind of fall?
BEN SHELTON: No. I mean, for me I tend to look at the race more than the rankings. So it's something I think about less. For me it's just excitement, playing a part of the season that I play really well in.
To be honest, I've never been somebody who worries too much about defending. It's just not as much in my nature.
But to be playing in this part of the season and get another opportunity to be playing really good tennis leading into the US Open is kind of my main goals here. And, yeah, looking forward to getting out there again.
Q. Hi, Ben. We know hard is the North American swing, especially with the 12 days of Masters. Do you feel like you're one of these players who need a lot of matches to build up to the US Open or would you take a bit less matches, less tournaments?
BEN SHELTON: Yeah. I mean, for me, I think in this swing, three tournaments is the perfect amount. I'd like to get as many matches as possible.
I probably got a few too many last year going into the US Open. But I think that I'm the type of player, the more matches I play, the better I play, as long as my body can hold up.
It's a great three-tournament run or swing before having a week off leading up to the US Open. So, yeah, just kind of going for it.
Q. You made some comments obviously last week in D.C. kind of about Jannik and Novak not being here, and I know this way that the schedule is kind of built with the Master 1000s back to back, with the US Open following not far after. Obviously for you, like you said, you like to play, I guess, three tournaments in both obviously Masters 1000. What's your outlook on the situation? And, also, I guess these 12-day formats, which have kind of been unique to Montreal and Cincinnati obviously worked for you last year in Toronto, but like how do you -- these kind of weird where the tournament ends on a Thursday, how do you kind of approach that?
BEN SHELTON: I mean, at this point I've played so many of them you approach them all the same. It's not something that you try to do something differently.
And, yeah, like I said, Jannik knows himself; Novak knows himself. Obviously I'm doing something different. Maybe I would do the same thing if I had won Wimbledon. I didn't. (Laughs).
So I think that it's tough to criticize those guys for the decisions that they make throughout the season when they're trying to sustain a level and maintain their health.
At the same time, for me, this is one of my favorite parts of the year, one of my best swings, and I don't want to miss out on playing any of these tournaments. So that's kind of where I'm at.
And, yeah, like I said, I don't think that the two-week tournaments -- I think there's a lack of sustainability, for sure, but I don't know if there's a different way to go about it.
Q. We know last year you had a great North American swing. You won in Toronto, reached the quarters in Cincinnati. Does this year come with a bit of extra pressure knowing you have very much points to defend?
BEN SHELTON: No. I think you asked the exact same question that he just asked.
But, yeah, I tend to look at the race more than the rankings, and I more think about parts of the season that I can play really well and compete for big titles, play some of my best tennis, which I'm always confident going into this swing and having that opportunity to do that. So that's something that I more or less think of.
Every part of the year is going to be a little bit different. I did really well in these few weeks last year, and then I got injured and didn't really make any points for the rest of the year.
So I think that if you're always thinking about defending or what week that you made points or didn't make points, it's easy to kind of get lost in your mind, which is why I like to just think about my body of work for this year, 2026, what I'm doing and what I want to accomplish by the end of the year.
Q. Obviously weather has played a role so far early in the tournament with matches being canceled and moved. I know the match between the players who you are going to play has already been canceled for today. How do you kind of deal with it? Like have you been able to even get practice time in because of the weather?
BEN SHELTON: Yeah, I have.
Q. And what's kind of your approach with everything like with this?
BEN SHELTON: I think it's just -- it's normal. You know, it happens so many times throughout the year where you deal with weather, and it's usually a lot worse than this, to be honest.
And obviously I haven't even started playing yet, so it hasn't really affected me. But, yeah, I've been able to practice. And, yeah, we'll just see what happens moving forward.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports