ROS Rewind: The Tennis Pro Who Grew Up on the Court—Literally
Ahead of his US Open Semifinal today, we revisit our 2023 story about Frances Tiafoe
Later today, Frances Tiafoe will face Taylor Fritz in the US Open semifinal. You’ll hear a lot about the match on ESPN today, in no small part because it’s the first time since 2005 that American men have met in the semifinals of a Grand Slam. But the fact that both Fritz and Tiafoe are American is about where their similarities end. As detailed in a prescient 2016 New York Magazine feature “Two Boys Dreamed Of Playing Tennis,” Fritz and Tiafoe couldn’t have taken much more different paths to this match. Fritz is the son of two former pros and honed his game in the country clubs of San Diego.
Tiafoe, on the other hand? His is a different story…
While the other kids played in their tennis whites holding Wilson racquets like Federer or Babolats like Nadal, Frances Tiafoe watched from the bench just off the court. All of six years old, his feet couldn’t even touch the ground. But all day long he would watch, and when those lessons were finished, he’d find an empty corner of the court where he could mimic everything he had just seen: the footwork, the tosses, the groundstrokes. He would run all around those empty courts, even though his feet slipped out of the holes in his shoes.
After the other kids were—for real—whisked away in Rolls Royces, Tiafoe wouldn’t have to walk far to go home; he lived with his father and brother in the tennis center’s storage room. There were two massage tables used for beds; Tiafoe and his brother shared one of them. “It was a pretty small room,” Tiafoe said.
That is the extraordinary beginning to Frances Tiafoe’s improbable tennis story. Last summer, he became just the third Black American in history—joining Arthur Ashe and James Blake—to crack the world top 10.
“I’m a guy who shouldn’t even really be here doing half the things he’s doing,” Tiafoe said. “And now when you say [my] name, you can say, ‘He’s top 10 in the world.’”
It’s a journey that started in Sierra Leone, the West African nation that his parents escaped in 1991 during civil war. They wound up in the DC area, where Tiafoe’s father found work as a construction worker and later as a custodian at a tennis center. Tiafoe’s mother worked nights to make ends meet, so Tiafoe’s father converted the storage shed into a home away from home.
Soon, Tiafoe fell in love with the sport, and when a new coach named Visha Kouznetsov started at the tennis center, he noticed Tiafoe on his first day. He decided to help coach him. “He wasn’t any more talented than the other 8-year-olds who were there,” Kouznetsov told Andscape. “But when I came to work in the morning, he was there. When I left at night, he was there. I saw a kid who was always there, and a kid who I could teach as much tennis as I wanted to.”
On weekends, Kouznetsov would drive Tiafoe to far-flung tournaments, paying the entry fees himself. More often than not, Tiafoe would win. By the time he was 16, he was serving as a hitting partner for Rafael Nadal. He turned pro at 17 in 2014. And then, for the first time in his tennis life, Tiafoe started to lose. In every Grand Slam, he’d bow out in the early rounds—if he qualified at all. Before the 2023 season, having been on tour for eight grinding years, he’d only made the quarterfinals of a Slam once.
"The physical is a huge part of winning and playing at this level, but mental toughness, I believe, is really what gets you over the hump and helps you win big matches," Tiafoe said.
Luckily, mental strength is something Tiafoe knows well. This year, he’s found his groove after a sluggish start, making the finals of the Cincinnati Open, an ATP-1000 level tournament.
Every now and then, Tiafoe thinks about the other kids at that tennis center, the ones with the fancy clothes and racquets. “If I had the opportunity in life that they had, would I have wanted it that bad?” Tiafoe has asked himself. “Would I have gone to school? Would I think it was bigger than tennis? Would I care as much as I do now?”
He continues, “The life I led, even with all the struggles, was a blessing in disguise…This was meant to happen.”
Just how much further can he go?
🎾 The final weekend of the US Open is the perfect time to catch up on In the Arena: Serena Williams! All eight episodes of our series on the six-time US Open champ are now streaming on ESPN+!
🕯️ An important update on last week’s story about the Chicago Cubs enchanted prayer candle. After two weeks of providing great karma (and 12 wins), the candle ran out of wax. The Cubs tried to rescue the good energy, extracting the final bit of wick and wax and burning it onto a new Swiftie candle. But it seems the operation didn’t work. The Cubs lost the first game without the candle 5-3.
🏈 When he was 15-years-old, Michigan quarterback Davis Warren was diagnosed with leukemia. Five years later, he’s going to be leading the Wolverines in the Big House against the No. 3 Texas Longhorns. As Yahoo! Sports’ Dan Wetzel says, it’s “the kind of inspiring story that makes college sports so special.”
⛳ RIP to Mary Saban, Nick Saban’s 92-year-old mother—and subject of one of my favorite stories about the legendary coach.
Loved watching his match - I saw him in person at Roland Garros this year as well, and he's so fun to root for. Excited to continue tracking with him!!