“By the way, I don’t think people realize,” begins Frances Tiafoe, “I was like, the one who [connected them] — if we’re going to be real,” claiming he was the one who brought Trinity Rodman and Ben Shelton together. And just like that, Tiafoe took all credit as the matchmaker behind the latest romantic buzz in the sporting world. For a moment, he had everyone believing him—except for the fact that Rodman has now stepped up to ‘assure’ everyone that it wasn’t Frances for a fact!

All things aside, this doubt has indeed taken a toll on many, hasn’t it? Sure, be it dropping those little flirty TikToks to finally making a soft launch of their relationship with a not-so-secretive post, everything has been poetic between the two American athletes. Yet, hardly anyone knows how exactly Ben and Trin met. While the question might not have been answered completely by Rodman, she can at least assure it wasn’t set up by Tiafoe.

During her recent conversation with ESPN’s SportsCenter to discuss her national team return, the end of the tête-à-tête saw the host initiate the off-court topic surrounding her love life. Hilariously, the host coughed while taking Tiafoe’s name and asked Rodman whether it was he who helped her match with his fellow tennis colleague.

Interestingly, Rodman replied, “I don’t know if I want everyone to know the story but I can assure you Francis was not the reason that we met or got together. I don’t know why he’s taking credit for that. So me and Ben can both cut that out. It was solely a me and Ben thing. If we want to say we met through the Tik Toks we can do that but yeah.”

Denied! Now that’s quite a hard punch on someone’s face, innit? We hope Frances Tiafoe has an explanation regarding this. Clearly, according to the new couple in town, he definitely isn’t involved in the beginning of their love story. While the 27-year-old may have fired back a response to her dating life rumors, one thing is clear; Rodman is buzzing!

Trinity Rodman is ‘happy’ with the latest Ben Shelton link-up

In a similar conversation, the NWSL star was also quizzed about making her relationship with Ben Shelton quite public. Failing to hide her blush and smile [touchwood alert], she responded, “I’m just another person in a relationship and people know about it. So yeah, I’m obviously very happy and hopefully, some of the world’s happy. But I think it’s in the public eye so I can’t really do much about that.”

Well, technically, it’s on both Rodman and Shelton for making things so obvious between each other. The fans were quick enough to connect the dots to create a buzz regarding the new love union. Ultimately, it was a full-length mirror selfie in an elevator that did the job of revealing their relationship. In the image, Ben Shelton had his arms wrapped around Trinity Rodman’s waist, while the Spirit forward rested her right hand on his shoulder. Though only a profile of her face was visible, she sealed the moment with an affectionate kiss on his cheek.

Remarkably, Frances Tiafoe was also gushing over the post as he commented, “We gram now 👀👀👀👀.” Likewise, in an interview compiled by the New York Post, while commenting on Shelton’s new girlfriend, Tiafoe said, “I’m happy for him man.” But the 3x ATP winner insisted he was ‘shocked’ to see Shelton boldly posting pictures with Rodman, that too, without tagging her—as if fans wouldn’t know who Trinity is.

Regardless of whether Frances Tiafoe was the matchmaker or not, the crucial thing is that Rodman and Shelton are together.