Ben Shelton's Dad/Coach Shows He Doesn't Understand Sports As He's Still Complaining About Novak Djokovic Mocking His Son's Phone Celebration At The U.S. Open
We're a week removed from the U.S. Open semifinal match between Novak Djokovic and Ben Shelton, yet here we are still talking about it. Why? Ben Shelton's dad doesn't understand sports.
Let's do a bit of background before we get to what papa had to say. All tournament long the 20 year old American Ben Shelton whipped out a phone celebration after wins which he says is him saying he's "dialed in." It's his little thing and that's cool he's got a signature move. Ben went on a run to the semifinals so the tennis world saw a lot of this.
Fast forward to the semis. Djokovic won the final set in a tiebreak and decided to hit back by mocking the phone celebration.
Novak said this after the match: “I just love Ben’s celebration. I thought it was very original. I copied him. I stole his celebration.”
Even as a bit of a Djokovic hater, I couldn't help but respect the move. The match was a bit contentious and Novak found himself challenged a bit by the youngster. By challenged I mean he was broken a few times and almost lost a set. The crowd was fully against him and as the final ball hit the net he let out some emotion with the phone mocking. The horror!
I thought Ben handled it great after the match, especially as a 20 year old. There isn't a PR team in the world that could give you a better answer than this.
And with that the story should have died. Certainly not even close to a big enough controversy to garner any further attention.
I'm afraid not because Shelton's dad/coach Bryan is still butt hurt over it and doesn't understand sports.
Hey bozo, this is part of what makes sports fun and newsflash, tennis doesn't have enough of it. Players need to stop being so buttoned up and polite to each other. On occasion it's nice to see someone motherfuck the other a bit. This happens literally in every other sport. Has Bryan Shelton ever seen T.O. do the Ray Lewis in the end zone?
Apologies for the grainy footage, that's what YouTube spit out.
Rodgers used to get hit with the discount double-check celebration every time he took a big sack. Jaire Alexander did the griddy all over Justin Jefferson last year after shutting him down. Hakeem Nicks hit the dirty bird on the Falcons in the playoffs. The Red Sox blasted 'New York, New York' in the clubhouse after eliminating the Yankees in the playoffs. I could go on and on.
It happens all the time. You know how you combat it? You come back the next time you play and beat the guy. The last thing you do is whine that he's mocking you. What are we doing here?
I like Ben Shelton a lot and think he brings a great game/personality to American tennis. He has all the tools to become the guy who wins a slam for America. I'm now worried his dad is going to be one of those helicopter parents/coaches who gets in the way and says dumb shit where he thinks he's protecting his son. I like to think Ben doesn't think the same way here and this is just his dad going rogue. Either way, we gotta handle this better. If the best player in the sport's history beats you and mocks your celebration you lick your wounds and figure out how to beat him the next time. Simple as that. I didn't think this needed further explanation, but apparently to Bryan it does. Figure it out dude.