Just weeks ago, Ben Shelton told Vogue he was laser-focused on his career, “trying to figure out me.” Fast forward, and the 21-year-old has revealed a significant development: he’s dating NWSL star Trinity Rodman. Now, with his own love life sorted, the World No. 14 is playing matchmaker, hoping to extend this romantic fortune to a rival and his French friend, Arthur Fils.
For the uninitiated, Shelton shares a good relationship with World No.18 Arthur Fils. Despite being opponents on the court, the two have developed a great camaraderie in the last two years. Remember their exchanges from 2023 season after meeting during the Laver Cup?
While Shelton beat Fils in their first face-off, the two began to have playful banters. In October, when Shelton won his first ATP title, at the Japan Open, he wrote a message “Humble and Hungry” on the camera lens. And guess what? Fils copied it when he won his SF match in the same month against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the European Open. Shelton then replied, saying, “Show me something Arthur,” while urging the Frenchman to win a trophy just like him. Sadly, Fils couldn’t make it happen as he lost in the final against Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik.
Fast forward to March 2025, the fun conversations seem to have returned. On Friday, during a practice session ahead of their respective Miami Open campaigns, the two shared the court. Not to mention it was surrounded by many teenagers, including many female fans. So how could Shelton leave this fun opportunity to have a lighthearted moment with his buddy? Looking at the crowd, he told Fils, “Perfect, we can find you a girlfriend here”
Quick fact: There’s no publicly available information about Arthur Fils’ dating history.
In October 2023, following a match, Fils was asked about his relationship with Shelton and his opinions on Shelton’s recent achievements. He then shared his thoughts: “Ben is a really good friend. I saw his first title; it’s great. Well, today, I didn’t manage to show him much. I saw that he is still in the race for the Masters; I wish him to get there.”
Meanwhile, Ben Shelton, after defeating Arthur Fils in straight sets to reach the Basel ATP final in 2024, stated that playing his close friend was “difficult.” “I think it’s always difficult to play friends, but maybe it was a little bit easier for me because he beat me in Tokyo and I wanted revenge.”
How generous! Surely Ben is. Clearly, it seems he doesn’t want his friend to remain single anymore. It will be intriguing to see if he will actually end up locating someone for Fils. But when it comes to his own love life, it’s going great with Trinity Rodman.
How did Ben Shelton meet his girlfriend, Trinity Rodman?
Ben Shelton‘s Instagram post really sent everyone into a frenzy a few days back. “I been focused, but I’m steady climbin’, I’m nowhere near my peak,” he wrote in the caption while dropping a picture with NWSL star. But do you know she’s got a NBA connection as well?
Well, she’s the youngest child of NBA icon Dennis Rodman. Now comes the most interesting part. The love story. So how did Shelton find Rodman?
It all happened on TikTok. Apparently, the ATP pro shared a video with Jorijana and GloRilla’s ‘ILBB2’ playing in the background asking, “T****** wsp with u.” Rodman later came up with her own TikTok, using the same song. She wrote, “___wassup w you” in the caption. Then Shelton reacted to another clip of her, commenting, “Ain’t no way.” This interaction was enough to spark the rumors.
Later, Rodman’s teammate Kelley O’Hara shared her thoughts on this exchange in the Sport Are Fun podcast. She said, “100%. I think it’s so cute. I feel like when it’s two people in the public eye, it’s like, if you want to do it, go for it, you know? I mean talk about a sports power couple” And as we know, Shelton finally made it official on March 18 with his IG post having their mirror picture in an elevator, where Rodman kissed Shelton on the cheek.
While his love life has just begun, he would like to make his tennis life even better going forward. And what could be better than kicking off his Miami campaign with a win? He is set to face Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong on Saturday. Do you think he will make a deep run in Florida?
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