All of 19 years old, American youngster Frances Tiafoe is considered among the country’s newest – and quickest rising stars. After big fights this year against former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro – and yesterday, against former No. 1 Roger Federer, Tiafoe is quickly declaring himself despite having entered most Tour tournaments as a qualifier.
Now, he’s part of the ATP’s ‘NextGen’ hopefuls and already making his mark!
Here are 5 reasons he has big potential:
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#5 Early successes
Tiafoe, who grew up in the tennis-friendly area of College Park, Maryland began, like many of the best players today, very early. He commenced his training aged only four in his home city, where his father, Constant, worked.
At 15 years old, Tiafoe won perhaps the most prestigious tournament for a tennis junior – the Orange Bowl in Miami, in 2013. In 2014, he followed up that record-breaking victory with the Easter Bowl, considered the top tournament for an American junior.
Those wins led Tiafoe to be the top seed in the boys’ singles at the 2014 French Open, where he suffered an early shock upset. But by the US Open, the youngster recouped to make the semi-finals of the tournament, where he lost a tight five-setter.
Since then, Tiafoe’s star was only in the ascendency. Title wins in 2015 saw him receive a wildcard into the US Open, which came quick on the heels of his first ever Major appearance at that year’s French Open.
His professional career has only grown since.
#4 Humble beginnings
Tiafoe’s parents, both immigrants from Sierra Leone, met in Maryland and later had Tiafoe and his twin, Franklin, in Maryland, where the family still reside.
Father Constant Tiafoe was a daily wage earner in College Park, where he was part of a crew that built the Junior Tennis Centre. He would later go on to be hired as the custodian. Through this, Tiafoe pushed through the ITF rankings before he went pro.
As a child, Tiafoe and his twin brother often slept on a massage table at the tennis centre, while their father worked maintenance. Francis Tiafoe Sr, who previously went by the name Constant Zubairu, worked maintenance by day and tended the clay courts by night to make ends meet.
The twins moved with him into a small room in the centre while their mother worked through the night as a nurse. Although the family did not have much money to spare, Frances Tiafoe laboured on the courts all day to get to the level he is at now, and with support will only get better.
#3 He learned by watching others
Tiafoe, whose family were not very well off, could not afford training himself, so as a young boy watched players on court and later imitated them. In an interview with the Washington Post, it was revealed that coaches already working with elite players already on court would watch the young Tiafoe practising and let him be.
His coach, Misha Kouznetsov, has worked with the young player since he was eight years old, and revealed that Frances just ‘wanted to play’ but did not necessarily have the means. After helping him then, Kouznetsov bought the nine-year-old Tiafoe a sports shirt, basic equipment, and drove the youngster down to Washington, where he won his first tournament.
Tiafoe often lived with Kouznetsov and his partner, and learned more by watching the Tennis Channel on repeat and analysing games.
Now, he is still with Kouznetsov – and with sponsorships coming in, no doubt will find the burden eased significantly.
#2 He’s broken the top 100
Poised at #101, Tiafoe is now looking to claw his way back into the top 100 ranked ATP players. Earlier this month, however, the teen hit his career high of 86th on the back of a stellar run at this year’s Australian Open. Starting out as a qualifier, Tiafoe went through three rounds of qualifying to eventually see his run ended by Alexander Zverev.
Although most of his wins in the interim had been against lower-ranked players, Tiafoe’s newest battles against Juan Martin del Potro and Roger Federer – taking them both to the brink, have proved that the young player is back in the ascendency and raring to go.
Last year, Tiafoe displayed the best performance of his career so far against John Isner at the 2016 US Open, where he took the iconic American server to five tight sets – two of them tiebreaks, and had his much higher-ranked rival teetering on the edge of defeat.
Another couple of good performances could quickly send him right back into the top field – and perhaps a main draw soon enough!
# 1 An inspiration to American youth
Above all else, Frances Tiafoe is an inspiring figure to young players from modest, or even meagre means, who have not had an easy start to life. In a country where racial tensions have reached an all-time high, African-American youth, often on the receiving end of violence and racist abuse, will welcome a new idol; one who has had to – and likely continues to fight againt the battles of discrimination and poverty.
Until Venus and Serena Williams hit the scene, African-American tennis players – and aspirants – had Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson, who fought through a time of segregated courts, to look up to.
Although the years passed, attitudes appear not to have changed significantly in the next few decades, with both former No. 1s Venus and Serena Williams on the receiving end of racial slurs as young as four and five years old.
It is perhaps immense pressure to place on the shoulders of one so young and talented – but if it means giving others from similar backgrounds hope, it is a good thing. And Tiafoe has already become an icon in that respect.
