Frances Tiafoe’s biopic inevitable, believes James Blake, as he highlights US Open semifinalist's childhood as son of immigrants

James Blake feels that a film based on Frances Tiafoe's life is inevitable, given the 26-year-old's inspiring childhood as the son of immigrants. The American also said that he would be first in line to watch the movie if it were ever made.

Tiafoe has been in scintillating form at the 2024 US Open, ousting the likes of Ben Shelton, Alexei Popyrin, and Grigor Dimitrov, en route to his second semifinals at the tournament.

With a shot at becoming the first American Grand Slam finalist since Andy Roddick in 2009, Tiafoe's interview with The Players' Tribune back in 2017 has been making rounds on social media. In this interview, he got candid about his past and how he fought against his shortcomings to reach the upper echelons of the tennis world.

Tiafoe revealed his struggles in his formative years and how he used to play at the facility where his father worked when the other kids weren't around. He'd also imagine playing against Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the US Open as hit against the wall. The American said that he eventually got into the tennis academy his father worked at, which gave him a much-needed break.

"I’m the son of immigrant parents from Sierra Leone. When I was a kid, my dad got a construction job at College Park Tennis Club (home of the JTCC) in 1999, a new tennis academy in the D.C. area. I picked up the game during nights and weekends at the facility when the other kids weren’t around."

"I’d hit against the wall by myself, mimicking techniques I had seen older boys at the academy do. I’d imagine I was playing against Rafa or Roger in the U.S. Open, that those guys were just on the other side of the wall. Eventually, I was accepted into the academy, and the rest is history."

Former American tennis star James Blake reshared the article on X (formerly Twitter) and said that Frances Tiafoe's story would turn into a biopic one day. He said that he would be the first in line to watch it or be a butt double if needed.

"This is gonna be a movie one day. And I will be first in line to see it @FTiafoe Or I might have to be the stand in for that butt," Blake tweeted.

"What I could control though was how hard I worked" - Frances Tiafoe on how he used his shortcomings as his strength rather than an excuse

Frances Tiafoe (Image Source: Getty)

In the same interview, Frances Tiafoe said that he realized early in his life that he couldn't keep blaming his situation or use it as an excuse because those things couldn't be changed.

"I realized early that I could either sit there and be sad about my situation — which I did, plenty of times, wishing I was one of the other kids — or use it as a way out. I look at it like this: Your parents are your parents. You came up how you came up. You can’t change that," Frances Tiafoe said.

However, he knew what he could control was how hard he worked and brought a change in his community. The American also realized that he had much more at stake than his peers.

"What I could control though was how hard I worked. I knew I had an ability to help my family and my community in a way that my peers at the academy couldn’t. No matter what they ended up doing after tennis, they were going to be fine. For me, there was so much more at stake."

Frances Tiafoe will play his compatriot and 12th seed Taylor Fritz in the semifinals of the 2024 US Open, in what will be the eighth meeting between the two men. Fritz leads their head-to-head 6-1.