Rod Laver tips Ben Shelton for Grand Slam success in Laver Cup Q&A

Having been tuned in to all the action over the three days of his namesake Laver Cup, there's no doubt that Rod Laver is locked in to the current state of men's tennis. Ahead of Day 3 of his eponymous event, the man they call 'Rocket' gave his take on the state of the sport in a social media Q&A, and the Hall of Famer is tipping American youngster Ben Shelton as the next big thing.

Laver solicited questions from fans ahead of the start of the final day of play at Vancouver's Rogers Arena, and when he was pressed to name his favorite young player in the sport at the moment, he didn't hesitate in naming the recent US Open semifinalist, who made his Laver Cup debut for Team World this year.

"Shelton is the new player on the tour," Laver wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "We're going to see him winning a Slam, he's got one of the biggest serves, a big left-hander, he doesn't make many mistakes. He sees an opening and he goes for it."

But no matter how highly Laver thinks of Shelton's talent, and though Novak Djokovic has twice fallen just one match short of the achievement, the Aussie nonetheless thinks it'll be a while before another man wins all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same year, something he achieved twice.

"Not until a crop of new players come up," Laver wrote. "You don't go out thinking, 'I'm going to win a Grand Slam.' Putting all 4 together is a monumental task. It's hard to master every surface."

Shelton's Team World came into Day 3 of the competition with a 10-2 lead in the overall score, needing to win just one of the four matches scheduled for Sunday to retain the Laver Cup crown.