Trinity Rodman Supports Ben Shelton in US Open Semifinal

Trinity Rodman took her seat in the stands on Friday night, another star in the New York spotlight, as Ben Shelton stepped onto the court for the biggest match of his career: a US Open semifinal against fellow American Frances Tiafoe.

The Washington Spirit and U.S. women’s national team forward has become a familiar face at Flushing Meadows this year. She has tracked Shelton’s run through the draw, including his wild, late-night quarterfinal victory over Carlos Alcaraz that didn’t finish until after 3:30 a.m. ET — the kind of match that shifts a player from “talent to watch” into “name everyone knows.”

Now comes Tiafoe, another showman, another American, with a place in Sunday’s final on the line. Waiting there is world No. 1 Alexander Zverev.

Both Shelton and Tiafoe are hunting the same thing: a first Grand Slam title. Shelton holds the edge in their personal series, leading 3–1 in head-to-head meetings. He won their most recent clash a year ago in Washington, D.C., on a hardcourt, the same surface and similar stakes, if not the same stage. Tiafoe, though, owns the memory that matters in New York: he beat Shelton in the third round of the US Open in 2024.

That history gives the semifinal a sharp edge. One man owns the broader record. The other owns the one that still stings.

Rodman has been there for much of Shelton’s surge. The pair went public with their relationship in March 2025 and quickly slid into the “power couple” conversation in American sports. Her presence at his matches has become part of the backdrop of his rise, just as his appearances at USWNT and Spirit games have not gone unnoticed in the soccer world.

Their calendars, though, do not care about romance.

If Shelton beats Tiafoe and reaches the final, Rodman will almost certainly have to watch from afar. The Spirit are scheduled for a home match just one hour before the US Open men’s final on Sunday, Sept. 13, a brutal clash of commitments for a couple whose lives are built around competing on the biggest stages.

Rodman has been candid about the strain and the structure that come with dating another elite athlete.

“It’s definitely hard … it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, we don’t get to see each other at all,’” she told USA TODAY Sports, describing the constant tug-of-war between travel, training, and time together. What keeps them aligned, she said, is a shared understanding of the grind: “We are so good at understanding each other’s schedules and the way we operate and times when we need advice, times when we don’t. So going through that together has been amazing.”

The support runs both ways, but it doesn’t blur who they are.

“I think we’re always so good at supporting each other. And yeah, just being individuals as well, I think has been huge for us of not getting so blended together,” Rodman said.

So there they were again on Friday: Shelton on court, Rodman in the crowd, two careers running parallel at full speed. One chasing a first Grand Slam final, the other juggling a club season and national team demands.

If Shelton keeps winning in New York, the next chapter of this story might unfold with Rodman racing from one arena to another, or watching the biggest match of his life from a locker room screen between her own warmups. Either way, the stakes are clear: one match to decide who steps out against the world No. 1, and whether one of American sport’s brightest duos will have to live this moment on separate stages.