Frances Tiafoe has joked that Ben Shelton thinks he’s a D.C. local because of his “little girlfriend”. The American tennis stars are set to link up in the doubles draw at this week’s Citi Open. It’s a home tournament for Tiafoe, who hails from Hyattsville, but not for Atlanta-born Shelton, who went to college in Florida.
Ahead of their outing on the doubles court, Tiafoe explained that it was Shelton who reached out to him, and suggested that the world No. 8 was also treating it like a home tournament because his girlfriend, Trinity Rodman, plays for the Washington Spirit.
Tiafoe always brings his best tennis to Washington. The 27-year-old says the week-long ATP 500 tournament is like a “long homecoming”, and he thrives in the spotlight.
The world No. 11 will be playing as many matches as he can at the Citi Open, as he also entered the doubles tournament with Shelton, where they face Olympic gold medallists Matthew Ebden and John Peers in their opening match. And he claimed his teammate also thought of himself as a local.
Discussing their exciting partnership, Tiafoe joked: “Yeah, he asked me randomly. He texted me, What do you think about dubs in D.C.? He thinks he’s from D.C. now, because he has a little girlfriend that plays soccer sometimes, I guess.
“No, I love him, and we have had incredible battles, became incredibly close the last few years. Our humor, mannerisms, very much the same. The crowd is going to go nuts.
“We just practised just now. We couldn’t even get off the court. The crowd is going to go absolutely nuts. I’m super excited to get out there with him.
“We’re going to go for it and try pretty hard to try to win some matches out here, both singles and doubles. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be really fun.”
Shelton’s girlfriend, Rodman, was just 18 years old when the Washington Spirit selected her as their second overall pick at the 2021 NWSL College Draft.
At the time, she had never been to the US capital. But she’s now been with the team for four years and recently returned to training with the Spirit after a back injury sidelined her for three months.
Shelton and Rodman went public with their relationship earlier this year, and the USNWT star, who scored three goals at the Paris Olympics, has already had to dispel rumours that Tiafoe was the one who set them up.
“I don’t know if I want everyone to know the story but I can assure you, Frances was not the reason that we met or got together,” she told ESPN in April.
Rodman was courtside to cheer Shelton on during his recent run to the Wimbledon quarter-final. She was forced to release a statement when a BBC commentator got her name wrong and brought up her famous father, Dennis Rodman.
In an Instagram story, the Olympic gold medallist wrote: “For those who don’t know… my name is TRINITY, not Tiffany. Also, for Ben’s matches, he has his family there as his support system, which includes his dad.
“My dad’s 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. It’s his and his loved ones’ moment. Thank you.”
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Content Source: www.express.co.uk