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Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti pulled off the Novak Djokovic-Ben Shelton “hanging up the phone” celebration following a Davis Cup win. After beating Shelton in the US Open semifinal, Djokovic imitated the 20-year-old American’s phone celebration.
Since then, there has been a lot of talk about that moment. Last week at the Genoa Challenger, Fabio Fognini used that celebration after one of his matches. This week, that trend continued as Musetti did the same during Davis Cup action.
Lorenzo Musetti did the famous Ben Shelton/Novak Djokovic phone celebration after he won his match at the Davis Cup.
The trend has started & it can’t be stopped. 📞😂 pic.twitter.com/ZZGuEH9cwN — The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 15, 2023
Musetti does the Djokovic-Shelton phone celebration
Some weren’t too happy about Djokovic “hanging up the phone” on Musetti.
But when Djokovic was asked about if after the match, he insisted he wasn’t mocking Shelton. “I just love Ben’s celebration. I thought it was very original, and I copied him. I stole his celebration,” Djokovic said of imitating Shelton’s celebration.
When Shelton was asked to address Djokovic’s act, he suggested that he wasn’t bothered. “I don’t like when I’m on social media and I see people telling me how I can celebrate or can’t celebrate. I think if you win the match, you deserve to do whatever you want.
As a kid growing up, I always learned that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so that’s all I have to say about that,” Shelton said after the match when asked about Djokovic’s celebration. While Shelton didn’t seem to be bothered by Djokovic’s celebration, his father was.
This week, Bryan Shelton said Djokovic’s intention was to “mock” his son. “He wants to be loved so much, Novak … 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,” Bryan Shelton told GQ. With the way things have been going, there will probably more of phone celebrations in tennis.
