“Djokovic put him on the map” – Novak Djokovic’s fans claim it was Nole and not Ben Shelton who made the ‘phonecall’ celebration famous following the American’s recent comments

American rising tennis player Ben Shelton had a pretty impressive run at the Flushing Meadows this year. Not only did the 20-year-old make it to the Final 4 at the last Slam of the year, but he also grabbed eyeballs with unusual ‘phonecall’ celebration following his quarter-final round win against Frances Tiafoe. Novak Djokovic, later, celebrated his win over the youngster, repeating his celebratory move after adding his own spin to it.

The ‘phonecall’ celebrations for which both Djokovic and Shelton faced a ton of criticism during the US Open, have now become a widespread celebratory move. Not just tennis professionals, but for players across several sports, imitating Shelton and Djokovic’s ‘phonecall’ step has become a celebratory move of choice. World No.18, Lorenzo Musetti copied the celebration after his Davis Cup victory. Tommy Paul and Christopher Eubanks teased Shelton with the ‘phonecall’ at the Laver Cup as well.

Talking about his ‘phonecall’ celebrations that have taken the sports world by storm, Ben Shelton, in a conversation with Tennis TV, talked about his trend catching on.“You saw Djokovic do it, you saw Musetti do it you saw Fognini do it. It’s even gone outside the sport,” the 20-year-old said.

Soccer player, Achraf Hakimi, who currently plays for the Paris Saint-Germain, copied Shelton’s steps in one of his matches as well. Talking about it, Shelton said, “I saw Hakimi, he did it in one of his games.” Shelton further told Tennis TV that people often tag him in their social media posts when they celebrate their match wins with the ‘phonecall’.

“I’m getting tagged on social media all the time, people…win a game or win a match and they’re doing this (the celebrations) and hanging up the phone,” he said. The American went on further to admit that finding his trend catching on is actually quite funny for him.

Tennis fans on social media, however, argued that it was Novak Djokovic and not Ben Shelton who made the ‘phonecall’ celebrations famous. A user on X wrote, “If Djokovic had not done it, bye bye “Phone-Shelton” thing. Djokovic put him on the map!!!,” in their reply to a video clip by @TennisTV featuring Shelton.

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Social Media puts Ben Shelton on a blast as they talk about Novak Djokovic making the ‘phonecall’ famous

Djokovic fans on the internet dragged Ben Shelton after @TennisTV posted a clip on X which featured the American talking about ‘his phone call celebratory move’. Shelton came under fire as people in their replies to the video clip on X, claimed that others were copying Novak Djokovic and not Shelton as the 20-year-old seemingly appears to believe.

Some of the users on X criticized Shelton’s PR team for deliberately keeping him “under delusion”. Netizens also tagged Ben’s handle on the social media platform, as they informed the 20-year-old that it was actually Novak whom the rest of the players were copying and that he was the one who put the American “on the map”.

Some fans also pointed out that Shelton’s celebratory win against Frances Tiafoe at the Flushing Meadows raised several eyebrows and was heavily criticized. However, it was Djokovic who turned it into a ‘celebratory move’ with his semi-final win over the 20-year-old. While Djokovic faced some criticism over his imitation of the ‘phone call’, several people saw the move as a savage reply to the American.

In case you missed it :

• Andy Murray’s sudden rise to stardom and Wimbledon debut was a ‘baptism of fire’ for the family claims Judy Murray
• Novak Djokovic steals the limelight at Red Star Belgrade’s Champions League match
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