Former Gator Ben Shelton has been one of the rising stars in tennis over the past few years, and on Friday night, he took one step closer to being the American star that has been missing on the men’s side over the years. Shelton, the No. 8 seed at the US Open, defeated Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the finals against No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev on Sunday.
Shelton’s biggest advantage came at the service line, where he racked up 20 aces to Tiafoe’s three and had a 1st serve percentage of 75% to Tiafoe’s 57%. Shelton was able to parlay that into breaking Tiafoe’s serve five times while having his own serve broken just twice.
This will be the first final in a major that Shelton has made. He previously made the semifinals of the US Open in 2023 and the Australian Open in 2025. He will seek to become the first American male to win the US Open since Andy Roddick did it in 2003.
Shelton is a Gainesville native who attended Buchholz High, and he won the 2022 NCAA singles national title as a member of the Gators.
DJ Lagway comments age like milk
To be honest, we debated making this its own standalone piece, but with the season officially underway, we want to focus more on celebrating the Gators than looking back. But we are going to point out that former Gator DJ Lagway is not going to play this week for Baylor after he injured his ankle last week against Auburn.
Sources: Baylor’s Nate Bennett will make his first career start for the Bears this weekend, as DJ Lagway (ankle) is not expected to play against Prairie View A&M. Lagway was injured against Auburn and isn’t expected to be out long-term. It’s uncertain if he’ll dress and be… pic.twitter.com/5fNKq75LzK
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 11, 2026
And we were going to let this go, but Lagway’s camp last week ran a puff piece where his mom, Nikita, refused to lay blame for Lagway’s struggles in Gainesville on the coaching staff, but she did cast blame at the fans.
So we are just here to point out this quote that Nikita Lagway made just last week when asked about the perception that Lagway is injury-prone, which was one of the knocks against him in Gainesville:
"It bothered me to hear people say he's weak or injury-prone," Nikita said. "I just want people to know, this season right here is going to be the first of my son's career since 10th grade where he's healthy and injury-free."
Again, Lagway is injured in week two and is not playing this week
Florida Volleyball overcomes sloppy first set
Gator Volleyball is on a four-game winning streak and is now 6-1 on the year after beating Miami and FAU this week. Florida knocked off the Hurricanes in straight sets on Wednesday and after dropping the first set against FAU on Friday, went on to win the next three sets.
Last night it was Kamryn Chaney leading the way with 20 kills off a .304 attacking percentage. Logan King had 12 kills off a .385 attacking percentage.
The Gators have three more non-conference games against Troy, FSU, and Jacksonville before SEC play starts at the end of the month.
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