Memorable Shanghai Masters Debut for Ben Shelton Comes with a Moment of ‘Worst’ Self-Assessment in a Long Exchange with the Umpire

Ben Shelton is making headlines with his amazing performance on the tennis court. In fact, as of now, he is also participating in the Shanghai Masters in China for the first time. He had his first round today against Jaume Munar and even won the round to proceed to the second one. He will now be playing against Roman Safiullin on Sunday, the 8 of October.

During his first round, something happened in the court that caught everyone’s attention. Ben Shelton got into a conversation with the chair umpire, and he came to the ‘worst’ realization about himself as the conversation between them ended.

Ben Shelton exchanges a long conversation with the chair umpire at the Shanghai Masters

During the match, Ben hit a point against Munar with a second serve. After the shot, he thought it was long and correctly challenged it. This also allowed him to win the game. Later on, when he approached the bench beside the umpire for the changeover, he asked the umpire about the same.

Ben asked, “You thought it was in?”. To which the umpire responded, “I didn’t think it was in but I thought it was really close.” Answering back Ben continued to ask, “You couldn’t see close enough to overturn it?”

The chair umpire agreed with his point with a one-word answer, “Exactly”. But that’s not the end of it. Ben was curious further so he asked, “But if he would’ve called it out, you wouldn’t have overturned it?” To which the umpired answered back, “Exactly yeah! That’s a good point.”

Shelton further explained how he is not so sure about challenge matches after he has turned a PRO. He said, “None of the tournaments, since I’ve turned pro, have been challenged, it’s all automatic now. So I’ve played three or four with the challenge. I have no clue what I’m doing. I have the worst eyes on tour.”

But the chair umpire had a different opinion on it. Which is why he said, “There’s some pretty bad ones, don’t worry.” After this exchange, the 20-year-old American continued to defeat Munar in straight sets to face another competition in the second round.

READ MORE: ‘I Warned Him’ – Novak Djokovic’s Coach Goran Ivanišević Blames Djokovic’s Body Language for His Loss to Rafael Nadal at the 2022 French Open

With this win, he has gained a lot more fans. The fans started gathering up for him more due to his performance at the US Open. But it was not just that. Another thing that brought Ben Shelton a lot of attention was his gesture of ‘hanging up the phone’ after he won a match.

Ben gets a lot of attention on social media due to his dialed-down celebration gesture

In the US Open, after Ben had won a match, he used the hanging up the phone gesture on the court. And now it has gotten out of hand so much that a lot of players have also started copying it including Novak Djokovic. In one of his interviews, Ben also mentioned that his fans have also started doing this every time he wins a point.

He said he is also tagged on social media whenever someone loses or wins a match. They tag him in the comments with the phone emoji as it resonates with him now for his fans and tennis fans overall.

Watch This Story:  Maria Sharapova Versus Serena Williams-Who Wins the Entrepreneurial Race

What do you think about Shelton’s gesture? Let us know in the comments below!