Ben Shelton’s Tennis Footwear Journey In Step With Roger Federer

Ben Shelton playing in the new On The Roger Pro 3 at the 2026 Australian Open. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images) Getty Images The first time Ben Shelton played in the U. S.

Open singles main draw he did so wearing a pair of Roger Federer’s custom-made Nikes. Federer shipped the shoes to New York from Switzerland just for Shelton. The American’s footwear has had a Federer-inspired twist ever since.

The Shelton-Federer U. S. Open connection occurred in 2022—helped by the fact Shelton was signed to Federer’s agency at the time—and offered a foretaste of the lasting connection between the two players, as Shelton signed with Federer-backed On in March 2023, playing on the professional tour during his first full year wearing not only On’s original The Roger Pro, but also playing and testing The Roger Pro 2 prototypes, some of which Shelton still has.

“I think, certainly, he still has his footprint in the shoe process, in the soul of the shoe, not literally but figuratively,” Shelton tells me about the On shoe bearing Federer’s name. “That is really cool. When I played the U.