Frances Tiafoe Began Tennis to Keep Out of Hassle, Earn Scholarship

• American Frances Tiafoe beat Andrey Rublev 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 within the US Open quarterfinals on Wednesday.
• The 24-year-old tennis star mentioned his profession was by no means “presupposed to be like this.”
• Tiafoe mentioned it was initially about “getting out of our neighborhood” and perhaps incomes a scholarship.

NEW YORK — Frances Tiafoe is having fun with one of the crucial spectacular Grand Slam runs for an American man in many years.

However the 24-year-old Maryland native mentioned his tennis profession was by no means “presupposed to be like this.”

Tiafoe upset world No. 9 Andrey Rublev in straight units on Wednesday to increase his surreal run by the 2022 US Open. However earlier than he turned the primary American man to succeed in the grand slam semifinals since 2006, Tiafoe instructed the press simply how inconceivable his rise to tennis greatness — and this second, particularly — really was.

The son of immigrants from Sierra Leone, Tiafoe and his twin brother grew up across the sport — actually. They spent a part of their childhood sleeping on therapeutic massage tables at Faculty Park’s Junior Tennis Champions Middle, the place their father labored as a upkeep man.

They actually solely began taking part in the game out of comfort, and as a technique for “getting out of our neighborhood” in Prince George’s County, simply exterior of Washington, DC.

“As soon as we obtained within the sport of tennis, it was like my dad was like, it could be superior in case you guys can use this as a full scholarship to high school,” Tiafoe mentioned throughout his press convention on Monday. “I imply, we could not afford a college. So use the sport of tennis.”

As time went on, although, it turned more and more clear that Tiafoe had expertise past these comparatively small ambitions. He began placing his title on the map upon successful a number of prestigious juniors tournaments at 14 and 15 years previous.

By the point he was 16, he was a professional.

“I simply had a giant ardour for the sport,” Tiafoe recalled, including: “Watching Serena and Venus [Williams] play finals of Grand Slams at the moment, after I was tremendous younger, I used to be like, ‘How cool would it not be to play Wimbledon, to play on Arthur Ashe, and stuff like that?'”

Fairly cool, he can now say with the arrogance of a person who’s skilled it first-hand.

“It is one thing to inform the children, the grandkids.”

—US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2022