Olympic gold medalist and NWSL champion Trinity Rodman plays for the Washington Spirit by day and moonlights as a WAG by night during Ben Shelton's run to the US Open final. But scheduling conflicts may prevent Rodman from being in the stands for the most important match of her boyfriend's career.
The Spirit are scheduled to take on the Boston Legacy on Sunday, Sept. 13, at 1 p.m. ET in Washington D.C. at Audi Field, more 230 miles away from Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, where Shelton will face No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev in the final at 2 p.m. ET. You see the issue.
Rodman has been a mainstay at Shelton's US Open matches, including his marathon quarterfinal win over Carlos Alcaraz that stretched to 3:33 a.m. in the morning. After Shelton's quarterfinal match concluded,
Rodman drove five hours to make it to her team's training session in suburban Virginia at 11 a.m. ET.
Rodman was also on hand for Shelton's semifinal win over Frances Tiafoe to advance to the first Grand Slam final of her career. "Onto the next," she wrote on her Instagram Story after the win.
Shelton previously called Rodman his "good luck charm," but he'll likely have to be without her on Sunday. USA TODAY Sports breaks down whether it's possible for Rodman to watch Shelton play in person on Sunday:
Could Trinity Rodman attend US Open final?
If Rodman wants to attend Shelton's match in person after her own game ends on Sunday, a lot of things would have to go right for it even to be a possibility.
One variable is match length. The men's singles final at the US Open is best-of-five sets, which could get pretty lengthy if it goes the distance. Shelton's quarterfinal win over Alcaraz, for example, lasted 4 hours and 28 minutes. If the US Open final goes that long, that means the match would end around 6:30 p.m. ET, three and a half hours after the Spirit's match ends.
A flight from D.C. to New York only takes around an hour barring any delays or cancellations, but with even the best of circumstances, it'll be a tight window to make it to Flushing Meadows in time.
How did Ben Shelton and Trinity Rodman meet?
Trinity Rodman and Ben Shelton's relationship started with an Instagram message.
"I said, 'You're sick … fire emoji,'" Rodman recalled on Kylie Kelce’s "Not Gonna Lie" podcast in August. "(Shelton) responded and was like, 'Yeah, you were sick at the Olympics too.' Yeah. That happened. He matched the cringe situation. And then I think maybe a week or two later we met in person."
Rodman, an Olympic gold medalist in soccer, and Shelton, the top American male singles player in tennis, first announced their relationship in March 2025 on – you guessed it – Instagram. The couple have been inseparable ever since, showing up and supporting each other at their respective sporting events.
How Ben Shelton and Trinity Rodman support each other's pro careers
Rodman and Shelton are superstar athletes in their own regard. But together, they are one of the leading power couples in sports.
Rodman was the youngest player to be drafted in National Women's Soccer League history at the time at age 18, and she led the Spirit to their first NWSL championship as a rookie in 2021. She also helped Team USA win Olympic gold at the 2024 Paris Games.
Despite each athlete navigating their own grueling schedule that often finds them in different places (or continents) at any given time of the year, Shelton and Rodman find time to support each other's goals.
"It's definitely hard … it's like, 'Oh my gosh, we don't get to see each other at all,'" Rodman told USA TODAY Sports. "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."
Contributing: Seth Vertelney
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will Trinity Rodman attend Ben Shelton's US Open final? It's complicated
