The iconic phone celebration that generated some noise at the US Open will be repeated by Ben Shelton and his Laver Cup teammates. During his victories over Frances Tiafoe and Aslan Karatsev in New York, the 20-year-old imitated answering a phone call and hanging up. When Novak Djokovic defeated Shelton in the semifinals, he used the celebration as an influence, prompting Shelton’s father and coach to charge that the world No. 1 was mocking his son.
Shelton attracted attention for his tennis and other on-court actions during the year’s last Grand Slam event. Since reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, the 20-year-old had not won consecutive matches. However, he unexpectedly defeated his countrymen Tommy Paul, and Tiafoe on his way to the US Open semifinal.
Following their semifinal match, other players, including Djokovic, imitated the world No. 19’s phone celebration, which attracted attention. And Shelton intends to get back to the celebration at the Laver Cup this weekend. Even though Tommy Paul lost against Shelton at the US Open, he was still up for acting out the celebration.
Shelton said: “But it’s gonna hurt if one of these guys clinches a match on my head and goes.”
Paul replied to Shelton’s comments: “We can’t let that happen.”
Ben Shelton in 2023
Currently ranked no.19 (career-high), Ben played his last match on the 22nd of September when he defeated world no.44 Arthur Fils 7-6(4) 6-1
in the round robin in the Laver Cup (draw).Presently, during this year Shelton owns a composed 20-23 win-loss record. Ben Shelton’s best result of the present year was getting to the semifinal in the Cagliari Challenger and at the U.S. Open.
Shelton is expected to play next in Beijing (China Open)
. He is currently an alternate. The main draw will start on the 28th of September.Novak Djokovic in 2023
Ranked world no.1, Novak played his last match on the 15th of September when he beat world no.25 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3 6-4 in the Rubber 2 of the Davis Cup (draw).
This season Djokovic achieved a composed 46-5 record. Djokovic has won 5 titles in 2023 in Adelaide, Australian Open, French Open, Cincinnati and U.S. Open. The Serbian reached the final in Wimbledon.
Ben Shelton and Novak Djokovic played each other just once. Their current record is 1-0 for Djokovic. When they played, Novak Djokovic won 6-3 6-2 7-6(4) in the semifinal in New York (U.S. Open) on the 8th of September 2023.
In the video below you can watch the highlights.
Ben Shelton and Novak Djokovic |
| Embed from Getty Images |