U.S. Open 2024: Frances Tiafoe has an excellent chance to claim his first Grand Slam title
Frances Tiafoe reacts against Ben Shelton during the third round of the U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Frances Tiafoe has a powerful serve, undeniable charisma and an incredible backstory that makes it almost impossible not to cheer him on.
What the 26-year-old American lacks is a Grand Slam title. It’s the one thing he needs to separate himself from the rest of the up-and-coming American tennis players who are poised to make a deep run at the U.S. Open. It’s the one thing he needs to go from an elite and respected tennis player to a superstar household name like Coco Gauff.
This, however, could be his year. With No. 2 Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz having suffered upset losses within 24 hours of one another here, the door is open for a fresh new face to be hoisting the trophy.
The remaining American men in the draw include No. 12 Taylor Fritz, No. 14 Tommy Paul, No. 20 Tiafoe and No. 40 Brandon Nakashima. While four Americans made the quarterfinals last season, no American has won a Grand Slam tournament since Andy Roddick won the U.S. Open in 2003.
That all could change over the next eight days. So says Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam winner who won last year’s U.S. Open.
“Look, Alcaraz is out, I’m out, you know, some big upsets,” Djokovic said after losing to Alexei Popyrin on Friday. “The draw is opening up. Obviously, Jannik Sinner is the main favorite, but then, you know . . . Anybody can take it. It’s going to be interesting to see who takes the title in the end.”
No one was helped more by the Djokovic upset than Tiafoe. After his hard-fought comeback win in a five-set thriller against fellow American and good friend Ben Shelton, Tiafoe had every reason to believe he was going to have to get by Djokovic to get to the quarterfinals.
Instead of playing a 24-time Grand Slam winner, he will be meeting the No. 28-seeded Australian, who until this year had never made it past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. Tiafoe and Popyrin have never played one another.
If Tiafoe can get past Popyrin, it would mark the third straight year he has been in a U.S. Open quarterfinal.
Tiafoe’s story captured the heart of U.S Open fans when he made it to the semifinals in 2022. The son of immigrants who escaped war-torn Sierra Leone, Tiafoe learned how to play at an elite tennis center in Maryland where his father was a maintenance worker. Tiafoe shocked Rafael Nadal in the round of 16 in 2022 and exchanged a thumbs up with former First Lady Michelle Obama before losing to Alcaraz.
“I’m going to come back and I will win this thing one day,” Tiafoe told the crowd through tears in his on-the-court interview.
In 2023, he was stopped short in four sets by Shelton. Tiafoe has said that loss sent him into a tailspin. Tiafoe won only two matches after that U.S. Open and parted ways with his long-time coach, Wayne Ferreira, at the end of the season. This year he went through two more coaches before settling on David Witt, the former coach of Venus Williams.
Tiafoe’s game began looking up at Wimbledon when he made it to the third round before losing in five sets to Alcaraz. Then he showed himself a force to be reckoned with on the hardcourts by getting to the final of the Cincinnati Open before losing to Sinner in straight sets.
After avenging last year’s loss to Shelton with an emotional win on Thursday, the two friends hugged at the net. With the crowd screaming, Shelton looked at his friend and said, “ ‘Go and get whoever you play next and just keep going,’ ” Tiafoe recalled. “ ‘Go win this tournament.’ ”
If Tiafoe gets past the Australian, there are plenty of challenges ahead. In the semis, he could end up facing another American as Fritz and Nakashima are on his side of bracket. And if he gets to the final, he could have a rematch with Sinner, who beat him in straight sets in Cincinnati.
It’s clear that Tiafoe thinks he has an advantage playing at Ashe. He loves New York and New York fans — he wore a Jalen Brunson Knicks jersey to warm up before his second match — and a number of stars, including the Knicks’ Mikal Bridges, have come out to watch him play.
After hugging Shelton, Tiafoe showed the fans at Arthur Ashe exactly how he feels about playing in front of them, stomping around the court, pointing at the court and repeatedly yelling “This is my [expletive] house!”
So far, it is.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.