The power of showing up
Their support goes beyond understanding the pressures from a distance.
Rodman has become a familiar face in Shelton’s player box, making the effort to join his family at tournaments including the 2026 US Open, wearing an “I ❤️ MY BOYFRIEND” T-shirt days before cheering as Shelton defeated Carlos Alcaraz in a latest-ever finish in tournament history.
Shelton, in turn, has appeared in the stands at Washington Spirit matches to support Rodman, even trying his luck at a press conference. After a Spirit match in September 2025, he picked up a microphone and began interviewing Rodman, who struggled to stop laughing.
“You gotta make sacrifices sometimes,” Shelton told Us Weekly in 2025. “It’s just the life that we live. I think that you have to have two selfless people in a situation like this, and I think we have that.”
Sometimes, that means going quite literally the extra mile. At the 2025 US Open, Shelton told the crowd during his on-court interview: “My girlfriend took the red-eye from California last night to be here.” Less than a day earlier, Rodman had been on the opposite side of the country, playing for the Spirit against Bay FC. By the following afternoon, she was sitting with Shelton’s family in New York.
The support has worked both ways. After Shelton’s first-round exit from Wimbledon in July 2026, he was soon back in the stands watching Rodman play for the Spirit. She scored a 94th-minute winner against Houston, then ran toward the stands to celebrate with Shelton with a kiss.
For Rodman, being with someone who genuinely understands those sacrifices is “the best feeling in the world, honestly” she told 7News DC. “I think to know we’re both on the grind, running our bodies to the ground, always exhausted, doing what we love, and then to also be able to be a little like a WAG [a term for ‘wives and girlfriends’] in a sense, it feels so good for us,” Rodman told Elle.
Of course, there are practical realities to navigate. Long distance is not an occasional inconvenience for Shelton and Rodman, it is woven into the careers they have chosen.
“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.”
“It’s a short, short window that you have to play and get the most out of it, get the most out of yourself that you can.”
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