It had barely been three hours after the final whistle of the Washington Spirit’s 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.
The 24-year-old U.S. women’s national team 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 this weekend.
“It means everything,” Shelton said on Sunday, after falling to Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2. “I knew she was coming — I knew it was going to be pretty close to impossible to get here.
“Even making the effort and trying is insane.”
Rodman has become a regular in the stands at Arthur Ashe this summer, supporting Shelton through one of the most important competitions of his career so far. On Sunday, he became the first Black American man to reach the U.S. Open singles final since Arthur Ashe himself in 1972, after powering through an impressive several weeks in Queens.
She was there late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, just days after assisting the Spirit’s winning goal against the Thorns in Portland. She witnessed Shelton’s final ace at 3:33 a.m. in Queens, and was back in Leesburg, Virginia, reporting for training just a few hours earlier.
Ben Shelton has supported Trinity Rodman at several of her Washington Spirit games. (Scott Taetsch/NWSL via Getty Images)
Their relationship has taken center stage this summer at the U.S. Open, with tabloids buzzing about the young sports couple.
Many wondered, foolishly, whether Rodman would skip the Spirit’s clash against Boston this weekend for the U.S. Open. But as expected, she played a full 90 minutes in D.C.
“She kind of showed up as I was losing,” Shelton said, “which for her probably sucked.”
In that moment, Shelton looked to the stands and thanked his loved ones for being there. That’s when the camera panned to Rodman, who was visibly emotional for Shelton’s historic moment.
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.
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’s soccer players in the world.
“We’ve made a lot of sacrifices for each other,” Shelton said on Sunday. “We’ve traveled the world to try to support each other.”
That will likely only continue, as the Spirt enter the final stretch of the season and continue chasing this year’s NWSL Shield. They sit just five points behind the 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 – with Shelton likely in those stands, too, if he’s not too busy with Wimbledon.
