Ben Shelton gets teased by Grigor Dimitrov over his phone call celebration during hilarious Mandarin prank at Shanghai Masters

Ben Shelton recently fell prey to a hilarious prank by colleague Grigor Dimitrov at the 2023 Shanghai Masters.

Shelton was in Shanghai, China, for the ongoing Masters 1000 event. During a media day activity, the American tennis sensation, alongside other players such as Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz, and Andrey Rublev, was tricked by former World No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov into making hilarious confessions in Mandarin.

Shelton has attracted a great deal of attention in recent days, thanks to his impressive results as well as his iconic ‘dialed-in’ post-win celebration. In honor of the gesture, Dimitrov, who was orchestrating the prank behind the curtain, asked that the American reveal his love for making phone calls in Mandarin.

“He doesn’t need to speak much. He just needs to do that,” Grigor Dimitrov teased, making the dialed-in gesture.

Ben Shelton, unaware of the actual translation, hilariously went ahead and aced the quote.

“I love making phone calls,” he said, obliviously.

When the World No. 20 was informed about Dimitrov’s prank, he was in stitches and expressed his wish to be involved behind the scenes as well.

“I wish I could come up with some of these,” Shelton said, laughing.

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Ben Shelton crashes out of Shanghai Masters; Grigor Dimitrov keeps hopes alive

Ben Shelton at the 2023 Shanghai Masters

Ben Shelton had an impressive run at the Shanghai Masters. He earned victories over Jaume Munar, Roman Safiullin, and Jannik Sinner. The American’s dream of winning his maiden ATP title, however, was crushed by his compatriot Sebastian Korda.

Shelton and Korda locked horns in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 event on Thursday, October 12. The blockbuster fixture saw Shelton edge out his countryman in the opening set tiebreak. However, the 21-year-old failed to capitalize on his momentum.

Korda eventually came out on top to make his maiden Masters 1000 semifinal after a nail-biting deciding tiebreak finish, 6-7(10), 6-2, 7-6(6).

Grigor Dimitrov, meanwhile, is still in the Shanghai Masters title contention. The Bulgarian reached the quarterfinals of the event by shocking top seed Carlos Alcaraz in the Round of 16.

Dimitrov dominated the Spaniard throughout the encounter but could not close out the opening set. Despite the setback, he quickly regrouped and denied Alcaraz a single break thereafter. Pulling a rabbit out of the hat, the former World No. 3 dismissed the two-time Grand Slam champion 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.

His previous wins came against Aleksandar Vukic and Karen Khachanov.

Dimitrov will now face Chile’s Nicolas Jarry for a spot in the semifinals. The 2017 Cincinnati Masters champion is chasing his first trophy in six years and his ninth career title overall.