American tennis star Ben Shelton revealed that his girlfriend, Washington Spirit and United States Women's Soccer Team forward Trinity Rodman, was "annoyed" that their mutual friend claimed to have set them up.
Shelton, 22, discussed his romance with Rodman, 22, while promoting his partnership with Thorne's Sports Performance and said the Olympic gold medalist was "annoyed" that fellow tennis player Frances Tiafoe publicly took credit for introducing them after they went public with their relationship last month.
“Tiafoe had nothing to do with it,” Shelton said. “He’s taking credit, [saying] ‘Oh, yeah, I put them together. I was like Danny Ainge.’ He’s a liar,” Shelton said while laughing. “He’s trying to make it about himself. It’s not about him, but that’s funny.
“… I think he’s from the DMV. [Rodman’s] from the DMV. 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.’
“She 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.”
Shelton, the No. 13 overall player in the men's tennis ATP rankings, said his relationship with Rodman has "been great, obviously," but was surprised by the attention it received.
“I guess I didn’t think it would blow up as much as it did. That’s not why I did it.
“I feel like, you know, posting your girlfriend on Instagram is a more normal thing. I guess because of who it is, is why people went nuts a little bit. But yeah, kinda crazy how much it did blow up… and I realized, ‘wow, people care about my life that much.’ But yeah, [we’re] happy for sure.”
Rodman, the daughter of Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman, is several months removed from winning her first gold medal with the USWNT at the 2024 Paris Olympics, tying several players for a team-best six points and scoring three goals, which tied teammate Sophia Smith for second behind Mallory Swanson (4).
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