Ben Shelton has been the crowd favorite ever since his breakthrough at the US Open a month ago. Along with newly added fans, he has been gathering a lot of negativity. This time, the young American was playing doubles with Hubert Hurkacz at the Shanghai Masters. In the 10th game of the first set, play was stopped due to rain. The players were sitting while the ball kids stood holding umbrellas for them.
Shelton took the umbrella and invited the ball kid to sit, which prompted Hurkacz to do the same. The audience began clapping for his act of kindness, but he did not receive the same reception online. Fans began comparing Shelton and Novak Djokovic. The Serbian had done the same at the 2014 French Open. “Everyone wants to copy djoker and get cheap PR!,” commented a fan upon watching Shelton.
“imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” ben shelton
— pirane (@pirane023) October 9, 2023
Djokovic copied Phone celebration, now Ben copies Umbrella help LOL
— Bruno Mendes (@Eng_BrunoMendes) October 9, 2023
Djokovic had a sweet moment with a ball kid in the first round of the 2014 French Open. The world No.1 held the umbrella during the rain while even sharing a drink with the kid. He also encouraged the crowd to cheer for the ball kid. Unfortunately, Shelton could not get the same appreciation as Djokovic.
Fans of Novak Djokovic and Ben Shelton still divided over controversies
The 2023 US Open saw a controversial rivalry between the fans of Djokovic and Shelton. It started during their semifinal clash, where the 36-year-old copied Shelton’s phone call celebration. While Djokovic’s fans took it as a harmless imitation, it was seen as a form of disrespect by the other party. The fans of the world No.20 started to call out Djokovic for not acting like a senior player in front of a rising player.
The controversy went deeper when Shelton’s father, Bryan Shelton, spoke against Djokovic. Bryan said, “Djokovic wanted to mock Ben at the end. It wasn’t something he was doing just to copy Ben” via GQ Sports. The former world No.55 was not happy with Djokovic. Even the handshake at the net after the match did not look friendly.
Ben Shelton’s dad shared his thoughts on Novak Djokovic copying his son’s signature celebration after beating him in the US Open semis. pic.twitter.com/u6yLO5dYSr
— ESPN (@espn) September 15, 2023
Birthday boy Shelton turned 21 today, but the birthday celebrations were not as sweet as he expected. The 21-year-old has been put under a lot of expectations. He has been on tour for just a year and has had a good experience of being on the negative side. Shelton will be hoping for support in the coming days as he needs the fuel to burn through the remaining part of the season.