During Ben Shelton’s second-round match at the US Open, his father, Bryan Shelton, led the lefty’s coaching team courtside inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. In the eighth seed’s box slightly higher up were family members, other guests and Shelton’s girlfriend, football star Trinity Rodman, who wore a shirt with three words and an emoji:
“I ♥️MY BOYFRIEND”
Shelton and Rodman went public with their relationship early last year and have been a consistent presence supporting one another ever since. Earlier this season, Shelton told ATPTour.com how important it has been having Rodman in his life.
“It’s very important I think, one, having my family in my corner, who have been super supportive my whole career, it’s really important,” Shelton said. “And, two, having a partner, a girlfriend, who understands all the same things, knows when to support, what to say in tough moments — is selfless enough to be there for me in my moments and actually enjoy my big moments and vice versa — has been really cool.”
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Many tennis fans have seen Rodman in Shelton’s box throughout the past two seasons, and not just at tournaments like the US Open. The 24-year-old was by her boyfriend’s side when he triumphed in Dallas and Stuttgart, this year.
“It's funny because she's really gotten into tennis the way that I've gotten into soccer. She's watching it all the time. Sometimes I'll go home, and she will have YouTube on, watching one of my old matches,” Shelton said. “It's been cool to see. She's got into playing, too. And we're both very competitive people, so I'm trying to get as good as I can with soccer, and she's trying to do the same with tennis.”
Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Shelton has also been at many of Rodman’s football games, even if he had not been a big fan of the sport before. He has appreciated how strategic the game is and has enjoyed watching it grow in the United States.
The couple features two of the very best athletes in the world, and the stars have been able to lean on one another throughout their partnership.
“It's an important part of our relationship to be able to relate to each other through the different things we go through. Whether it's media stuff, brand stuff, photoshoots, the pressures of competition and being professional athletes, it is very taxing,” Shelton said. “Some people can say that it's difficult to maintain a relationship where you have two professional athletes. But in my opinion, to have somebody who understands what you go through is very, very important.”
Shelton has learned a lot from Rodman, with the 23-year-old specifically pointing to how Trinity deals with adversity. The No. 9 player in the PIF ATP Rankings called it “pretty inspiring”.
“Her path to being a professional athlete and being one of the best soccer players in the world hasn’t been easy and she's dealt with more adversity than me,” Shelton said. “To see that, understand it with the unfiltered version of it has been eye opening for sure. It puts perspective on things in life and is just cool to see her make it to where she wanted to.”
Part of that was supporting Rodman through injury last year. There was an extended period during which she was unable to play the sport she loves, and Shelton had a front-row seat to watch the star work her way back to action.
“It was tough to watch last year, her being in pain, just doing everyday stuff, living life and not even taking soccer into account. Being in pain all the time,” Shelton said. “And then finally finding the fix, getting over that, getting back on the field, slowly building confidence and now to see her in full flight, it [was] a tough journey and a tough year, year and a half for her for sure.
“It's the most difficult thing to deal with in sports. It is worse than losing: being injured and not being able to help your team. Being in pain is not something that is fun and I'm just glad that I was able to be there for her through that and to make it out the other side.”
Shelton, the recent Montreal ATP Masters 1000 champion, will continue his run at the US Open on Saturday against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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