Time and again, Novak Djokovic has proved why he is one of the greatest players to have played tennis. The Serb created history by becoming the first man to win 24 Grand Slam titles at the recently concluded US Open. However, it wasn’t the smoothest of rides as a controversial moment of his during the semifinal match against local favorite Ben Shelton went viral all over the place. Recently, the American sensation’s father reacted to that controversy.

The 20-year-old is famous in the tennis circuit for his ‘dialed-in’ celebration. However, on this occasion, Djokovic stole the limelight as he imitated Shelton’s phone celebration after defeating him. This invited a strong response from Shelton’s father.

Novak Djokovic faces heat after imitating Ben Shelton

During an interview with GQ recently, Ben Shelton’s father, Bryan Shelton hit out at the World Number 1 for his moment of arrogance after the match against his son. Bryan felt that Djokovic was mocking his son Ben, who had made that celebration his own.

A GQ piece reported how he bashed Djokovic for his actions, saying, “He wants to be loved so much, Novak…” Further, he went on to add, “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.”

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$775,000 US Open Glory Provides a Massive Boost for Ben Shelton as He Competes With the Top Dogs to Cement His Legacy

Later, in the post-match conference, Djokovic admitted he loved Shelton’s celebration, and ended up mimicking his gesture. However, the Serb faced strong backlash on platforms such as Instagram and Twitter for his actions. Not only Ben’s father, but his sister slammed Djokovic too.

Emma Shelton criticized Novak Djokovic as well

Ben’s sister, Emma Shelton took to her official Instagram handle where she posted a story hitting back at Djokovic. She shared a video of Djokovic imitating Ben’s phone celebration action and posted five skull emojis to it.

While Djokovic has been criticized for his actions, the breakout star Shelton has received wholehearted support from fans all over the globe. He’ll surely have taken a lot of learnings back from his first-ever match against the newly-crowned World Number 1 after the unprecedented semifinal performance.

Can Shelton continue his good form in the upcoming tournaments? Let us know your views in the comments below.

WATCH THIS STORY: ‘He’s a Perfectionist.’- Days After Novak Djokovic’s Friendship Bomb on Roger Federer, Ex-coach’s Blunt Revelation Shows Mysterious Similarities Between the Two Tennis Legends