\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit windy, the conditions here, which is great to start your year,\u201d he said. \u201cYou feel a little bit uncomfortable and you have to get used to the conditions and then the tennis feels actually a little bit easier when you get to Melbourne. So it is always great preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also been a special trip for Shelton, who was accompanied by girlfriend Trinity Rodman, the Washington Spirit forward who is one of the biggest names on the United States women\u2019s football team.<\/p>\n
The duo revealed their relationship last March and have become one of sport\u2019s biggest power couples.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great to start the year off with her here,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cIt\u2019s few and far between the time that we get to go to each other\u2019s sporting events, so it\u2019s always a blessing for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trinity Rodman and Bryan Shelton watching Ben Shelton’s second round match at the 2026 ASB Classic. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Rodman attended most of Shelton\u2019s training sessions and was courtside for both of his matches, riding the highs and lows that tennis brings.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, she is a nervous watcher for sure,\u201d Shelton said.<\/p>\n
Most of the trip was business \u2013 with a heavy practice schedule and the two matches – but the couple managed to explore the central city and sample some nice restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly just eating,\u201d Shelton laughed, when asked what they did with the rare time together. \u201cEating and coffee shops. There\u2019s a lot of good food here in Auckland, so we\u2019ve been able to enjoy that for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was Shelton\u2019s fourth visit to New Zealand, where he made the semi-finals in 2024. He has become a crowd favourite, even if the Stanley Street fans haven\u2019t always witnessed the best of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure they\u2019d love to see me win a couple more matches here one day,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cBut I know that they have a lot of love for me here and I have a lot of love for them as well. That\u2019s why I keep coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ben Shelton was eliminated from the ASB Classic at the quarter-final stage. Photo \/ Photosport <\/p>\n
The 23-year-old admitted that Thursday was a difficult scenario as he had arrived on site at 10.45am and didn\u2019t get on court until 7.30pm.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of the longest days that you\u2019ll have on site at a tennis tournament but we\u2019re used to it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shelton added that the uncertainty over whether their match would be moved indoors \u2013 organisers eventually decided not to \u2013 added to the challenge but he could have \u201chandled it better\u201d.<\/p>\n
He was typically candid about Friday\u2019s hot and cold performance, where he mixed such dazzling play with numerous errors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a bad serving performance from me. I just wasn\u2019t hitting my spots the way that I needed to against someone as solid as him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shelton will begin his fourth Australian Open campaign next week. He reached the semi-finals last year \u2013 eliminated by eventual Italian champion Jannik Sinner \u2013 after making the quarter-finals in 2023 and the third round in 2024.<\/p>\n
Shelton faces France\u2019s Ugo Humbert in the first round \u2013 though don\u2019t tell him that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t looked and I don\u2019t want to know,\u201d said Shelton. \u201cI\u2019ll look maybe a day or two before. If you look ahead in the draw, it works for some people. For me, getting ahead of myself is not a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Burgess<\/a> has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America\u2019s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit windy, the conditions here, which is great to start your year,\u201d he said. \u201cYou…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2246,1443,25286,51,1135,15361,4915,127,140902,35702,15313,71,111,139,69,90,5493,2989,39480,140901,8258,139399,213,1886,16559,18322],"class_list":["post-239109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2246","tag-about","tag-asb","tag-auckland","tag-australian","tag-ben","tag-classic","tag-despite","tag-earlierthanexpected","tag-exit","tag-feeling","tag-from","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-open","tag-positive","tag-prospects","tag-rodman","tag-seed","tag-shelton","tag-sports","tag-support","tag-tournament","tag-trinity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}