THE RUNDOWN
- Soccer star Trinity Rodman and tennis player Ben Shelton ignited romance rumors in March 2025.
- The professional athletes have since made their relationship Instagram official.
- Rodman has been spotted publicly supporting Shelton at several sporting events, including the BMW Open and Wimbledon.
Being a professional athlete takes an inordinate amount of hard work and dedication, which is why Trinity Rodman’s budding romance with Ben Shelton makes so much sense. While Rodman is a soccer star, playing for the Washington Spirit and the United States women’s national soccer team, Shelton is a professional tennis champ, representing the U.S. at tournaments across the globe, including Wimbledon. Since making their relationship public in spring 2025, interest in Shelton and Rodman’s connection has only intensified. Here’s what you need to know about Rodman and Shelton’s relationship timeline so far.
A TikTok trend started it all.
Rodman is prolific on TikTok, with more than 305,000 followers as of August 2025. As a result, it makes perfect sense that the star athlete appeared to tease her new romance with Shelton on the platform. The pair hinted that they were both “shooting their shot” with one another in a TikTok trend in March 2025, via espnW’s Instagram account. And it wasn’t long before the two athletes decided to hard-launch their romance on social media.
On March 18, Shelton shared a series of photos on Instagram, the last of which was a mirror selfie taken with Rodman in an elevator. “I been focused, but I’m steady climbin’, I’m nowhere near my peak,” he captioned the post. The soccer player commented on her boyfriend’s post, writing, “Shooters shoot I guess,” suggesting that the TikTok most certainly paid off, as reported by The Mirror US.
Tennis player Frances Tiafoe claimed he played matchmaker.
After Shelton and Rodman revealed their relationship on Instagram, tennis pro Frances Tiafoe suggested he was actually responsible for introducing the pair. During an appearance on TikTok account Overtime Tennis on March 18, 2025, Tiafoe said, “By the way, I don’t think people realize, I was like, the one who [connected them]—if we’re going to be real.”
“I’m happy for him man,” Tiafoe said of Shelton. “The elevator photo out the gate...everybody knows who Trinity Rodman is. [The photo] at the end of the carousel, sick.”
However, Shelton and Rodman later denied Tiafoe’s version of events, suggesting he wasn’t responsible for them meeting. “I don’t know if I want everyone to know the story [of how we met], but I can assure you Frances was not the reason we met or got together. I don’t know why he’s taking credit for that,” Rodman told ESPN’s SportsCenter. “Me and Ben can both cut that out. It was solely a me and Ben thing.”
Shelton also shot down Tiafoe’s claims, telling the New York Post, “We’d like talked about her once, twice before and I was like, ‘But come on man. You didn’t do anything.’ Putting us together, like that’s a bit of a stretch.” He continued, “[Rodman] was kind of annoyed by that. She was like, ‘Come on, bro.’ I think she said something to him a couple times. But we’re all friends.”
Trinity Rodman called “dibs” on Shelton.
After Shelton took their relationship public with his March 18, 2025 Instagram post, Rodman returned the favor by posting an adorable photo on social media, too. The picture showed Rodman gazing up at her tennis pro boyfriend, whose face was hidden by a baseball cap. Tagging Shelton in the photo, Rodman captioned her March 27 Instagram post, “Dibs.” Shelton commented on the post, writing, “Whoever that is he won [for sure].”
From that point on, the romance between the two athletes seems to have only grown stronger. For instance, in an Instagram carousel posted on April 5, 2025, Shelton shared a short clip as he walked alongside Rodman, captioning the post, “In n out of times zones,” suggesting they were traveling together.
They were both shocked by the huge reaction to their relationship.
The public’s excitement about the romance wasn’t lost on Rodman and Shelton. During an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter in March 2025, Rodman spoke about her decision to go public with the relationship, saying, “I mean, I’m just another person in a relationship and people know about it.” She continued, “I’m obviously very happy.”
In his April 2025 interview with the New York Post, Shelton discussed his romance with Rodman, and the incredible response they had received after revealing their relationship on Instagram. “It’s been great, obviously,” the 22-year-old athlete said. “I guess I didn’t think it would blow up as much as it did. That’s not why I did it.”
The tennis pro also suggested that “posting your girlfriend on Instagram is a more normal thing,” so he didn’t necessarily think the photos would make such an impact. “I realized, ‘Wow, people care about my life that much,’” he told the outlet. “But yeah, [we’re] happy for sure.”
The same month, Rodman shared a TikTok video of herself hugging her boyfriend, with the caption, “My safety blanket...you make everyday better.”
Rodman supported Shelton in the BMW Open and at Wimbledon.
In April 2025, celebrated Olympian Rodman traveled to Munich in support of Shelton, who made it all the way to the men’s singles final in the BMW Open 2025. Rodman made her debut in the player’s box when Shelton beat Francisco Cerundolo in the men’s singles semi-final, and was spotted talking to her boyfriend’s dad, Bryan Shelton, during the competition. “She’s a good luck charm,” @tennischannel wrote on Instagram. Although Shelton ultimately lost the final to Germany’s Alexander Zverev, Rodman’s presence at the tournament made their relationship status quite clear.
In July 2025, Shelton made it to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, where he ultimately lost to Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner. Rodman supported her boyfriend at the tournament in London, and she also criticized commentators for calling her the wrong name and mentioning her estranged dad, former NBA player Dennis Rodman.
“For those who don’t know...my name is TRINITY not Tiffany,” Rodman wrote on her Instagram Stories, via Sports Illustrated. “Also, for Ben’s matches he has his family there as his support system, which includes his dad... my dads not even in MY life no need to bring him up during HIS matches when I don’t even want him talked about during mine.”
Summer 2025 brought a ton of romantic moments.
As well as competing across Europe throughout the summer, Shelton still found time to savor some vacation days with his girlfriend. On May 20, Shelton shared two sweet photos on Instagram, which he captioned, “Happy birthday beautiful girl...I love you.” The Olympic gold medalist responded in the comments, writing, “I luhhh you.”
The following month, Rodman shared footage showing her holding hands with her boyfriend as they walked around Europe. “No one else,” she captioned the Instagram post. On July 5, the Washington Spirit player shared another cute photo with Shelton, with the caption, “Watching you with googly eyes,” to which he responded, “Why am I cheesin so big.”
As both Shelton and Rodman are accustomed to traveling the world for their careers, they’ve had to adjust to dating while being in completely different places. “It has its challenges, but it’s definitely worth it,” Shelton told Town & Country. “It’s not something that we’re not used to—it’s been the story of our lives, especially me being on the road all the time. It’s just normal life stuff.”
Shelton and his family celebrated Rodman’s return to the field.
In August 2025, Rodman made her long-awaited return to soccer after taking time off to deal with a back injury. Prior to returning to work, Rodman shared vacation snaps with Shelton, along with training videos, writing on Instagram, “Not the summer that I had in mind but still loved every moment...can’t wait to be back on the field.”
On August 3, Rodman’s team, the Washington Spirit, played against the Portland Thorns in the National Women’s Soccer League. After joining the game for the final 14 minutes, Rodman was able to score the winning goal, cementing her triumphant return to the sport.
Shelton wasn’t able to support his girlfriend in person, as he was in Toronto for the 2025 National Bank Open. However, he celebrated her win from afar, telling ATP Tour, “One year anniversary from her incredible goal at the Olympics, hadn’t played in 100-something days and she goes in and in 15 minutes scores a banger. It’s pretty cool, especially [because] she was emotional. I’m always happy for her.”
