This gripe will be all too familiar to anyone who has followed men’s tennis, but the sport doesn’t have any gosh-darned kids. A cabal of 30-something legends still run the show, coming in and out of injury and picking up where they left off, stomping flat a whole generation of hopefuls. The No. 2 player in the world…
Twenty-year-old Frances Tiafoe came to Delray Beach as a wild card entry with a wild forehand. He left as the youngest American to win an ATP title since Andy Roddick got his back in 2002, and with an impressive pile of bodies in his wake. Taking down Juan Martin del Potro was the first omen of big things, but many…
Remember this kid? If you do at all, maybe it’s because you saw him last August, thriving in New York’s late summer humidity: dressed in all-black, whaling away with an unruly forehand, and placing his foot on the throat of every Federer acolyte—making them believe God might actually die in the first-round of the U.S.…
It takes a lot to win a share of crowd loyalty in Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City in the year of the resurrection of Roger Federer. It takes so much that it did not appear remotely possible for anyone not named Rafael Nadal. But last night at the U.S. Open, over five improbable sets, someone earned it, and it was…
In a markedly soft U.S. Open field—no Novak Djokovic, no Stan Wawrinka, no Andy Murray—third-ranked Roger Federer was brought to the brink in the very first round by unseeded 19-year-old Frances Tiafoe, who took him five sets deep tonight.
Both of these players, aged 19 and 20, are nominally the “next generation,” but the latter has already arrived—he’s in the top 10 and has racked up more titles this year than anyone not named Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. The other one won today in Cincinnati.
A tennis match today between Frances Tiafoe and Mitchell Krueger at the Sarasota Open was temporarily interrupted by the sounds of some fucking.
American tennis fans should take heart: their 19-year-old prodigy Frances Tiafoe caused the GOAT some woe, at least for a little while. Tiafoe, who is creeping closer to a breakout victory over a top player, took Roger Federer to a first-set tiebreak in their second-round match at the Miami Open before falling 7-6(2),…
Frances Tiafoe, the best American teen in the men’s game, hasn’t taken down any giants yet, but every few months he gets quite close. Back at the U.S. Open, he took literal giant John Isner to a fifth-set tiebreak, and last night in Acapulco, the 19-year-old took Juan Martin del Potro to a third-set tiebreak before…
If for some sad reason you’re a U.S. tennis stan and find yourself sick of big-serving lunk John Isner, you’d be wise to shift your loyalties to Frances Tiafoe, who serves as Isner’s perfect foil: Eighteen years old, closer to six feet tall than seven, spry, exceedingly mobile. My favorite part of Tiafoe’s game is the…
