Make New York Post a Preferred Source Some prefer to deal with their sporting heartbreak in private, but there was Ben Shelton at The Gem Saloon in New York City just hours after his loss to Alexander Zverev in the U.S. Open final on Sept. 13.
The American pro told The Post that he had planned on going to the trendy tavern, co-owned by NBA legend Steve Nash, with his family and close friends — including soccer star girlfriend Trinity Rodman — regardless of the outcome in his first Grand Slam final.
“[Steve] is a good friend, and the first time that I made the [U.S. Open] semifinals here in 2023, he let us have our after party dinner there,” Shelton, 23, said on behalf of his partnership with Thorne. “So we decided to run it back again this year. It’s a cool spot.”
View this post on Instagram A photo of Shelton with two tavern employees on The Gem Saloon Instagram account made waves online.
Despite not being pictured at the after party, Rodman was there as well -— just as she was throughout his two-week run in Queens.
Shelton and Rodman’s love story made headlines throughout the U.S. Open — specifically centered on Rodman, who’s currently in the middle of the NSWL season with the Washington Spirt, flying back and forth from D.C. to New York to support him.
On the day of the final, Rodman had a 1 p.m. game in Boston before she hustled back to New York for the tennis matchup that started an hour later.
Shelton joked that Rodman, 24, showed up as he was “taking the L” and receiving his runner-up trophy at the U.S. Open final ceremony.
“I didn’t think that she was going to make it in time for the match,” Shelton said. “I knew that she would be there after the match was over. But I thought it was going be impossible for her to actually make it to the match. She kind of arrived right as the ceremony was starting, right after I lost.
“I know that was tough for her, to grind as hard as she could to get here. That was weird. She shows up as I’m taking the ‘L.’ But it was a superhuman effort from her.”
Shelton explained that him and Rodman “100 percent” connect on a deep level because of their respective careers and the attention that comes with it.
“I think that it’s tough unless you’re living it to understand that it’s not just dealing with the on-court demands, the physical and mental demands, but then the media demands and different things that you have to deal with outside of sport and different partners that you may be doing events with,” Shelton said.
“There’s so many things that go into what we do and it’s exhausting. I think that being able to relate to somebody who has the same demands on the field and the media requirements is really cool to be able to see those things eye to eye. She probably deals with it even more with the star power that she has. So, we understand each other in a different way than anyone else can.”
Across town in Chelsea, Zverev celebrated his U.S. Open title with a dinner at Tao Downtown Restaurant, followed by an after party at Tao Nightclub, according to Page Six.
The next day, Shelton and Rodman visited young kids, families and medical staff at a pediatric cancer clinic at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York.
The pair hard-launched their relationship on social media in March 2025.
Shelton said he stuck around New York City for a few days after his U.S. Open defeat to spend some leisure time in his favorite city to play in.
“The U.S. Open is where I had my first big, breakout moment,” said Shelton, who reached the semifinals in 2023 when he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. “They gave me two wild cards here when I was young and kind of got to experience professional tennis at the highest level for the first time. It’s a tournament I came to a couple times as a kid and it’s just different than every other tournament.
“The energy of this tournament — I relate so well to the sports culture in New York and your average sports fan in New York. I think that I’m passionate about what I do. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I think that New Yorkers can relate to that and I just love the city. I love the event. There’s no better two weeks in the year.”
The No. 4 ranked Shelton didn’t dwell on the loss as he emerges as the biggest threat to end the American men’s 23-year Grand Slam drought, since Andy Roddick claimed the 2003 U.S. Open.
“I’m so focused on the process, and I’m not as much worried about one result,” Shelton said. “I guess I’m happy that I was able to make the finals of the U.S. Open — but I’m more on a journey in terms of my tennis, the level that I can get to. I’m not the player that I want to be yet.
“That’s an ongoing process and I think that just keeps me grounded and keeps my head down. I’m able to just keep working.”
Nash was one of the first to coin Shelton’s nickname, “The Mountain”, because of his size as a 6-foot-4 lefty.
Shelton went pro in June 2022 after winning the NCAA singles title at the University of Florida that year.
Shelton spoke with The Post on behalf of Thorne, which is the only supplement manufacturer that collaborates with the Mayo Clinic on health and wellness research and content.
“To be able to work with the Thorne team to kind of curate a group of supplements that works well for me, we’ve kind of found the right concoction that helps me feel my best,” he said, adding that it helped him on the night of his historic 2026 quarterfinal victory over Carlos Alcaraz, which clocked in at 4 hours and 28 minutes. “I use their daily electrolytes, magnesium bisglycinate every night before going to sleep, creatine consistently.
“We have pretty strict anti-doping rules [in tennis] that it can come.. and the [International Tennis Integrity Agency] can come test me any day out of the year. There’s that peace of mind Thorne gives me knowing that I’m not taking anything that’s contaminated. There’s nothing that could come back to bite me.”
Shelton withdrew from the Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships on Friday, and explained in a video message that the “U.S. Open and Davis Cup took a toll on my body.”
