Frances Tiafoe’s (20th) origins contain a touching story. With a path full of obstacles y deficienciesThis cocktail did not prevent the American tennis player from constantly improving until he burst onto the circuit, suffered a slight slump and positioned himself once again among the best in the world.
Its history begins in January 1998. His mother, Alphina Kamaragave birth to Frances and her twin, Franklin, in the City of Hyattsvillean urban suburb they seek to Washington. Both she and her father, Constant Tiafoethey met in the United States, after escaping from Sierra Leona in the mid-90s due to a civil war.
Tiafoe reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the second time, both at the US Open. Getty
His relationship with tennis began practically from birthHis father had worked as a construction worker. Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) and when the complex was inaugurated, he served as the building’s janitor. As the economy was going through a bad time, he had to take on overtime at night and, on several occasions, both Frances and her brother They spent the night therewhere they converted an office into their home. “I slept on folding tables in the office. That’s where my adventure began.””, Tiafoe recalled in an interview with The Guardian in 2019.
In 2006while a childlike Tiafoe strolled through the halls of the JTCC with his used t-shirts and discarded rackets, was discovered by Misha Kouznetsova youth coach who came from Pennsylvania to scout new talent. Within three months of meeting him, Kouznetsov had already entered Tiafoe into junior tournaments.
“He was bigger than most kids his age and more athletic. When he was 10, he started playing with older kids who were 12, and I knew right then that he could be a pro someday,” Kouznetsov recalls his time coaching the former world number 10.
Rough day at the office yesterday but a great day of training with the world number one Rafael Nadal pic.twitter.com/nlW5Atp7C8
— Frances Tiafoe (@FTiafoe) June 3, 2014
At 12 years oldTiafoe took the decision to become a professional tennis player and from there everything would go upbecause two years later he would win the U-14 World Championship in France and at 15 it would be awarded the prestigious Orange Bowl in Florida, becoming the youngest champion in the history of the competition.
They are growth was fast and dizzyingbut always on par with fulfilling his dream of being a professional tennis player. That character that characterizes him was shaped after a visit he made to Sierra Leone, the land of his parents. “Poverty there is crazyYou see it on TV, and then you see it up close and it’s like, damn. “People were really suffering and there was very little hope. That made me understand that as an American citizen, I had opportunities and was able to do whatever I wanted.” he told the site The Undefeated in June 2019.
At only 17 years oldthe native of Maryland would debut in the main draw of Roland Garros (a year earlier he had been invited to train with Rafa Nadal and had played the US Open qualifiers) to transform in it youngest American to achieve this since Pete Sampras and Michael Chang in 1989, falling in his debut against Slovakian Martín Klizan by 6-2, 6-1 and 6-4.
Tiafoe would later take off, reaching a position among the top 30 in the world and would begin to shake the world of tennis with his shocking Australian Open in 2019, appointment in which it would reach the quarter finals by giving in versus Nadal, after beating three heavyweights like Kevin Anderson, Andreas Seppi and Grigor Dimitrov.
By early 2020all the good things the American had done seemed to disappear. His moment was not what he wanted (he lost in the first round in the first three tournaments he played in the year) and dropped to 84th place in the world rankings. But there, strange as it may sound, the Covid-19 pandemic appeared to accommodate it.
“The pandemic was probably the best thing that happened to me in my career, if we’re going to be frank. I was in a dark place before the pandemic. I looked in the mirror and asked, ‘Why are you here? What are the things you need to change and what are the things you need to keep building on? ‘ It helped me a lot. There were a lot of deep conversations,” revealed to the ATP, after reaching the second week at the 2020 US Open and falling to Russian Daniil Medvedev.
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As a finishing touch, in 2021 began to achieve something he had not done before: dominate the Top 10Between March 2017 and April 2021, his record against players in this ranking was three wins and 21 losses, although from June until mid-2022 he would go on a streak of four wins and only one loss by beating the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (twice), the Russian Andrey Rublev and the Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
In 2022 are performance against the best in the world had turned negative again until his clash with the left-handed player from Manacor, an opponent he would overcome in four sets to advance to the quarterfinals, surprise Rublev and make her US Open debut in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament, falling with the budding Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who would later lift the crown.
Tiafoe’s growth has been in small steps and surpassing himself: “I hope there are some young people who look at me and understand that if you are obsessed with being great at what you do, you can escape from any situation.”. With this phrase to the site The UndefeatedTiafoe proves that he is not just a example on the court but also off it.
Despite expanding his list of achievements with his respective coronations in Houston and Stuttgart, both in 2023‘Big Foe’ would evidence a slight relapse on the circuit, especially at the beginning of the current season, which he would quickly overcome in his adopted country, where he would reach the final in Houston and Cincinnati, and the semi-final in Washington, to arrive renewed at the US Open, an event in which hewill attempt to become the first local to win since Andy Roddick in 2003.
