Ben Shelton’s dad is still hung up on Novak Djokovic’s U.S. Open celebration.
Bryan Shelton told GQ that Djokovic, who won the grand slam event, went too far in imitating his son’s phone-slamming celebration after a semifinal triumph at Flushing Meadows.
“He wants to be loved so much, Novak …” Bryan told the magazine as part of a lengthy feature on his son.
“He wanted to mock Ben at the end. It wasn’t something he was doing just to copy Ben. It was to mock him. And that’s too bad, for that to come from such a great champion.”
Djokovic rolled through the first two sets against the 20-year-old American upstart before a back-and-forth battle in third set reached a tiebreaker that Djokovic won, 7-4.
After the final point, Djokovic mimicked slamming a phone down — the same celebration Shelton had used in the previous round after his upset of Frances Tiafoe.
“I just love Ben’s celebration,” Djokovic said after the match. “I thought he was very original and I copied him. I stole his celebration”
At least publicly, Ben did not take the mocking as personal as his father did.
“I don’t like when I’m on social media, and I see people telling me how I can celebrate or can’t celebrate,” Shelton said after his deepest run at a grand slam earned him national notoriety.
“If you win the match, you deserve to do whatever you want. As a kid, I always learned that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
Djokovic followed his win over Shelton up by dominating Daniil Medvedev in the final to win his 24th grand slam championship.
Shelton, who starred at the University of Florida, will look to build on his stunning run and is among the candidates to be America’s next male breakout star.
It has now been 20 years since Andy Roddick captured the U.S. Open.
Shelton talked to GQ about the pressure of always being in the public eye.
“At the U.S. Open, the camera and the mic are always there,” Shelton said. “You go into the gym, they’re following you. I’m talking with Coco [Gauff] after we both won our match, there’s a mic above our head.
“You don’t really have a safe space where people aren’t watching, Every once in a while, you say something you wish you didn’t. And you just look at the camera that’s caught you, it’s in your head a little bit.”
Read more
