{"id":771160,"date":"2026-09-15T06:22:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T06:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/771160\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T06:22:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T06:22:27","slug":"trinity-rodman-attends-u-s-open-to-support-ben-shelton-hours-after-her-game-it-means-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/771160\/","title":{"rendered":"Trinity Rodman attends U.S. Open to support Ben Shelton hours after her game: \u2018It means everything\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It had barely been three hours after the final whistle of the Washington Spirit\u2019s 3-0 loss to Boston Legacy on Sunday afternoon at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., and forward Trinity Rodman was already in the stands of Arthur Ashe Stadium some 200 miles away.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old U.S. women\u2019s soccer star made the nearly impossible trek to Queens, N.Y., in record time to support her boyfriend, Ben Shelton, in his first U.S. Open singles final.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means everything,\u201d Shelton said Sunday, after falling to Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2<\/a> on Sunday. \u201cI knew she was coming \u2014 I knew it was going to be pretty close to impossible to get here.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven making the effort and trying is insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodman has become a regular at Arthur Ashe Stadium this summer, supporting Shelton through a memorable run to his first Grand Slam final. On Sunday, he became the first Black American man to play in a U.S. Open singles final since Arthur Ashe himself in 1972.<\/p>\n

Rodman was there late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, days after assisting the Spirit\u2019s winning goal against the Thorns in Portland, to watch Shelton\u2019s dramatic five-set victory over Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>. She witnessed Shelton\u2019s final ace at 3:33 a.m. in Queens, and was back in Leesburg, Va., reporting for training just a few hours later.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Ben Shelton has supported Trinity Rodman at several of her Washington Spirit games. (Scott Taetsch \/ NWSL via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Their relationship has taken center stage this summer in Flushing Meadows, with tabloids buzzing about the young sports couple.<\/p>\n

Many wondered, foolishly,<\/a> whether Rodman would skip the Spirit\u2019s clash against Boston so she could attend the men\u2019s final. But as expected, she played a full 90 minutes in D.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe kind of showed up as I was losing,\u201d Shelton said, \u201cwhich for her probably sucked.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that moment, Shelton looked to the stands and thanked his loved ones for being there. That\u2019s when the camera panned to Rodman, who was visibly emotional for Shelton\u2019s historic moment.<\/p>\n

Ever since the couple went public with their relationship last year, the pair have very publicly supported one another through their demanding schedules. Shelton has also become a regular in the NWSL stands, showing his willingness to commit to intense travel to support Rodman, including a tight turnaround of his own. After losing to Jannik Sinner in the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, Shelton hopped on a direct flight to Washington to see Rodman and the Spirit defeat the Thorns in the NWSL semifinals the next day.<\/p>\n

Shelton was one of the first people Rodman went to in the stands after the Spirit fell to Gotham in the 2025 NWSL Championship. The striker has credited him for his support during difficult moments in her career, like when she navigated her future with the Spirit. She went on to become one of the highest-paid women\u2019s soccer players in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made a lot of sacrifices for each other,\u201d Shelton said Sunday. \u201cWe\u2019ve traveled the world to try to support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

That will likely only continue, as the Spirit enter the final stretch of the season and continue chasing this year\u2019s NWSL Shield. They sit just five points behind league-leading Gotham FC, with six games left in the regular season. Next summer, Rodman will also be gearing up for her second World Cup in Brazil with the U.S. national team. Shelton will likely be in those stands, too \u2026 if he\u2019s not too busy with Wimbledon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It had barely been three hours after the final whistle of the Washington Spirit\u2019s 3-0 loss to Boston…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[167144,101,118,56,54,55,171397,252535,16097],"class_list":["post-771160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-nwsl","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-us-womens-national-team","tag-washington-spirit","tag-womens-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}