Frances Tiafoe

2022 - 9 - 7

Post cover — Image courtesy of "The New York Times"

In Maryland, Frances Tiafoe's Former Home Rallies Behind Him (The New York Times)

At the junior tennis club in College Park that gave Tiafoe his start and where he still trains, coaches and aspiring players cheer him on, and never stop ...

When Tiafoe won the set and clinched the match, advancing to the semifinals with an ace, the players, coaches, staff members, and parents of players at the center jumped to their feet and clapped. Inside the lobby hangs a framed letter, with Tiafoe writing what he would have wanted to tell Arthur Ashe, the tennis star who died in 1993, after winning the It’s not just children and teenagers who come to the center. Among the players who worked with Akli on Wednesday was Imani Jean, a 16-year-old who trains at the center full time. “I just had a big passion for the game,” he said. Akli told the players to warm up and hit with a partner. Open on Monday, Tiafoe said in a news conference that “it wasn’t supposed to be like this,” adding that he worked hard for his parents. “I like the way he’s holding right now,” Akli said. “He was there with Rafa the whole time.” Between sets, at a coach’s urging, players raced to the courts for a few minutes of practice. There’s a room inside the facility, next to a fitness center and across the hall from the restrooms, with two desks, a cabinet and a refrigerator. They hollered and held their breath as Tiafoe overpowered Rublev in straight sets to become the first American man to make the U.S.

How Frances Tiafoe improved his fitness to make U.S. Open semifinals (The Washington Post)

Frances Tiafoe's trainer shares key exercises in Tiafoe's program before the U.S. Open, where he beat Rafael Nadal.

[win his 14th French Open championship](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/06/05/french-open-mens-final/) and extend his men’s record number of Grand Slam titles to 22. [third Grand Slam returns in full with big crowds, roars and a little rain](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/06/27/wimbledon-first-day/). [Tsurenko beat fellow Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/06/29/lesia-tsurenko-beats-anhelina-kalinina-wimbledon/) in the second round. 1 Iga Swiatek raced to a 6-1, 6-3 victory](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/06/04/french-open-womens-final/) over Coco Gauff in 68 minutes to claim her second Grand Slam. [Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff fell on a rough day](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/02/iga-swiatek-coco-gauff-lose-wimbledon/) for top women at the All England Club. [Serena Williams’s Wimbledon return](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/06/28/serena-williams-wimbledon-first-round-harmony-tan/) lasted just one tortuous match. And choice words and bizarre antics marked a [wacky men’s night at Wimbledon](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/02/stefanos-tsitsipas-nick-kyrgios-rafael-nadal-wimbledon/). [defeating Andrey Rublev](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/07/frances-tiafoe-us-open/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2) on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Two days earlier, [Tiafoe beat second-seeded Rafael Nadal](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/05/tiafoe-nadal-us-open/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2) in the round of 16. “The key to that drill is to throw the ball as hard as possible, and drive from that back leg and make sure you’re getting that hip through and transferring your weight and driving that ball with as much speed as possible,” Costello said. “If it’s one of the cones in the back, turning those hips real quick and pushing back, so the movements are similar to tennis, so you’re getting a little bit of quickness, foot work, agility work, but also reactionary work, too.” Bring the medicine ball to one side with your knees bent, and load from the leg closest to the ball while driving the ball with as much speed as possible into the wall, Costello said.

Tennis Player Francis Tiafoe is Winning Hearts at US Open with ... (Today.com)

Francis Tiafoe has been one of the stars at the U.S. Open as he became the first Black American to reach the semifinals since Arthur Ashe in 1972.

He trained and even lived for a period of time at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland, where his father worked as a maintenance man. That win came after his upset victory over second-seeded and 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal in the fourth round on Sept. Open, has definitely earned his way to the top, too. Tiafoe is the first American man to reach the semis of the tournament since Andy Roddick in 2016 and the first Black American man to do so since Arthur Ashe in 1972, who made it to the finals that same year. Ashe is also the last Black American man to win the U.S. Open, getting set to make his first appearance in the semifinals of the Grand Slam event.

Can Frances Tiafoe End The 19-Year Drought For American Men At ... (Forbes)

With two more match wins, Frances Tiafoe would end a title drought for American men at the majors that stretches back to 2003 when Andy Roddick won the Open ...

Like when I’m younger, the reason I said to my dad that I can be a professional tennis player is seeing her and Venus battle each other.” We have the most popular, the most lucrative sport.” “We’ve got a great group of guys who really enjoy each other’s company who have Twitter followers that in this day and age are admired,” Martin said of today’s American men. “I think women are the superior gender, first and foremost,” he cracked. “I think that Americans can contend for Grand Slams right now,” Fritz said in a phone interview before the Open. “It’s systemic and there’s no easy solve,” he said this week in an interview in Manhattan at an event for the International Tennis Hall of Fame. But he failed to live up to them due to a combination of physical and mental obstacles, according to his coach, Wayne Ferreira, who reached the U.S. Nadal and Djokovic alone have won 15 of the last 17. 1](https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2022/09/08/race-for-no-1-in-mens-tennis-rafael-nadal-carlos-alcaraz--casper-ruud-all-still-have-a-shot/?sh=36645fc43613), said in the wee hours of Thursday morning. Open semifinals since Andy Roddick in 2006 and the first black American man to do so since Arthur Ashe in 1972. The last American man to reach a major final was Roddick at Wimbledon in 2009. And why have the American men gone so long without a title while their female counterparts (even those not named Serena Williams) have continued to win major titles?

Frances Tiafoe 1st American man in U.S. Open semis since Roddick ... (The Hindu)

Frances Tiafoe followed up the win over 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of the U.S. Open by beating No.

The other key moments came at the conclusions of the first two sets; Tiafoe is 6-0 in tiebreakers at this U. “But he has to win the Grand Slam first. Over and over, he gesticulated and yelled toward his guest box, where only four of the 15 seats were occupied, quite a contrast to Tiafoe's completely full section. from Sierra Leone in the 1990s during a civil war there. Tiafoe won 31 of 41 points when he went to the net; Rublev only ventured forward 11 times. man to get to the semifinals in New York, losing to Roger Federer in the title match 16 years ago. The only break of serve came more than two hours in, when Tiafoe went ahead 4-3 in the third set, then stood mostly motionless on court, enjoying the crescendo of support. As the nine-person line stood together, someone yelled, “Throw up a Dub!'” so Tiafoe and others formed a “W” — as in “Win” — by joining thumbs and index fingers on both hands. Andy Roddick, who was in the Ashe stands Wednesday, was the last U. Roddick also was the last man from the country to win any Grand Slam singles championship, taking the 2003 U.S. “I love to show the world what I can do,” said the 24-year-old Tiafoe, who is seeded 22nd at Flushing Meadows. Tiafoe managed the tricky task of following up the biggest win of his career, against 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, with another milestone victory, beating No.

Tiafoe taking things to another level (Deadspin)

The U.S. Open went plaid yesterday. We had written a couple of days ago about how Frances Tiafoe's growth was the result of being able to keep his ...

The level these two reached not just for a game or two or a set or two but for the whole thing was quite possibly unseen in the sport before. The thing is, when that control is total, and when everything is just right, it means that a player like Tiafoe can, under control somehow, take his game to a zone that no mortal should dare ever speak of. [Frances Tiafoe’s growth](https://deadspin.com/it-s-come-together-for-francis-tiafoe-1849499332) was the result of being able to keep his all-powerful game just reined in enough so that it’s controlled chaos instead of Smash TV on a tennis court.