[GAME ON] Frances Tiafoe Cinderella Story Offers Hope For Present And Future Of US Men’s Tennis

[WTOP] Frances Tiafoe Cinderella Story Offers Hope For Present And Future Of US Men’s Tennis. Frances Tiafoe’s run to the U.S. Open semifinals is, first and foremost, about Tiafoe himself, a 24-year-old from Maryland who took up tennis because his father was a janitor at a junior training center, a player who never won a match past the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament until now, who owns one career ATP title and a sub-.500 career record, and whose ranking ranged from 24 to 74 over the past two seasons. “A Cinderella story,” to use his phrase. Tiafoe’s tale — which already includes a victory over 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal along the way to Friday’s matchup against No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain with a berth in the final at stake — is about so much more, too.

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[NYT] At the Junior Tennis Champions Center, Frances Tiafoe, the young American who has barged into the men’s singles semifinals at the U.S. Open by playing fearless, joyful tennis, simply goes by Frances. On Wednesday afternoon, as Tiafoe played his quarterfinal match against Andrey Rublev of Russia, the center’s students, coaches and staff members broke from their regular routines and threw a party for the facility’s most popular alumnus, and a rapidly rising tennis star they know as a friend.

[NEW YORKER] Frances Tiafoe Is More Than a Good Story. The son of immigrants from Sierra Leone, Tiafoe is the first Black American to make the men’s semifinals at the U.S. Open since Arthur Ashe did it fifty years ago. Change can happen slowly, then all at once. On Wednesday, Tiafoe found himself in the quarterfinals, facing Andrey Rublev, in Arthur Ashe again. This time, the pressure was on him, not just his opponent. He seemed to like it. For the better part of two sets, Tiafoe and Rublev played almost even, ripping ground strokes, trading service hold after hold. Tiafoe took the first set in a tiebreak. The second set went to another. Tiafoe had played five tiebreaks in the tournament already, and had won them all.