- Playing Style
- Biography
- Reasons to Support
- How Far Can He Go?
- What the Bros Say
Frances Tiafoe: Playing Style
When analyzing Frances Tiafoe’s playing style, the first thing that catches everyone’s eye is his unique forehand. He tends to almost fully relax his wrist during his preparation, which makes the head of his racket face down before he hits the ball.
Despite his unusual technique, Tiafoe’s forehand counts as one of his biggest assets. His strong semi-western grip allows him to generate a lot of spin while maintaining a lot of power.
Tiafoe is a very versatile player who rarely has trouble adapting his game to his opponents. He has a lot of consistency from the baseline, but if necessary, he can also keep rallies short. As he did in one of the biggest wins of his career against Nadal at the 2022 US Open.
In that match, Nadal definitely underestimated Tiafoe’s ability to shorten his preparation on his forehand.
Tiafoe played aggressively throughout the match and took out the Spaniard in 4 sets.
Tiafoe has a very flat, two-handed backhand, comparable to Daniil Medvedev. Just like his Russian colleague, Tiafoe’s game is not suited to clay because of this. But even though he has often struggled on clay courts, in recent years he managed to improve tremendously on the surface.
This year he won his second career title on clay after defeating Tomás Martín Etcheverry in the final of Houston, and he reached the third round of Roland Garros. His best result in Paris so far.
Another big weapon of Tiafoe is his serve. His tall and strong physique allows him to serve up to 121 mph on average. Unsurprisingly, he has managed to win 80 percent of his service games in his career.
Tiafoe is undoubtedly one of the most talented players on the ATP circuit. But his magic rarely becomes apparent in his net game. As charming and confident as he is, Tiafoe often seems to lose his boldness and courage when he has to play volleys.
This results in making the wrong choices or bad positioning.
His positioning and movement at the baseline, however, are excellent. Thanks to his explosiveness and endurance, Tiafoe is among the best players when it comes to playing defensively. However, he usually prefers to dictate play and dominate the opponent.
Article by Sebastien Van der Voordt
Francis Tiafoe: Biography
Tiafoe was born in Maryland (USA) in 1998. The way he started his career is remarkable and goes against the image of tennis being an elitist sport.
Tiafoe’s parents had to flee their home country of Sierra Leone due to civil war. When he arrived in America, his dad found a job on a construction crew that built the tennis center where Tiafoe ended up spending most of his childhood.
Frances and his brother would sleep on folding tables in the offices of the center while his dad worked there as a janitor. Tiafoe has always acknowledged the important role of his father during the beginning years of his career.
When a young Frances Tiafoe saw the wealthy kids who played at his tennis club, his dad told him: “Look, you could have the last laugh. You’ve got an amazing opportunity. They’ve got chauffeurs. That’s cool, but is it theirs? No, they were born into it. You can earn yours.”
It’s fair to say Frances Sr. was a big motivator for Tiafoe and he is obviously a big contributor to his success today.
Tiafoe’s first success in tennis came with his victory at the prestigious “Les Petits As” tournament in France. This achievement catapulted him onto a list of champions that includes iconic names like Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet, and Michael Chang.
Tiafoe’s impressive journey as a junior player continued when he secured the US junior national championship, further solidifying his promising career.
On the challenger tour, Tiafoe reached 9 finals and won 4 titles. Tiafoe turned pro in 2015, two months after winning his first ITF tournament in Bakersfield. Just one year later, he reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open where he was outmatched by Rafael Nadal in three short sets.
Tiafoe reached the number 10 spot in the ATP ranking in June 2023, which is the American’s career high. Unfortunately, he already had to cede his spot in the top ten after his early loss in the 2023 US Open.
Tiafoe is an avid basketball fan and has often expressed his intention to bring “basketball culture” to tennis. “I think fans should be able to come and go, move around and speak during matches,” he said in an interview, “Imagine going to a basketball game and not saying anything.”
Frances Tiafoe: Reasons to Support
Frances Tiafoe is definitely one of those players who enjoys seeing their opponents succeed with a crazy shot as much as they enjoy making one themselves. He is a playful guy who loves entertaining a crowd with his tennis.
He will rarely show his frustrations on court and is gracious in defeat. In post-match press conferences and interviews, he always talks highly about his opponents.
He is a very laid-back person who likes to joke around. Although, according to his coach Wayne Ferreira, this has also worked to his disadvantage throughout his career. Speaking in the Netflix documentary “Break Point”, Ferreira said,
“He is obviously very unique, always laughing and joking around. He is everybody’s friend, but it’s also sometimes been one difficulty of working with him. We worked on a lot but I think the most important has been focus.
He’s had to change a little of his personality and the fun side to try to get a bit more serious. He has the ability to do it.”
Besides his likable character, Tiafoe comes from humble beginnings. He has been very open about the struggles he encountered during his childhood.
His story is the embodiment of the American dream so many people chase.
His financial situation forced him to teach himself how to play in his early years with gear that wasn’t suited for him.
His background makes him an inspiration for many. Being one of the few pro players with African roots Tiafoe has expressed his ambition to be an inspiration for people of color:
“That’s one of my biggest motivations—to get more black people playing tennis… But I’m just trying to inspire everyone, doesn’t matter what race… especially younger people.”
Tiafoe is well-liked by his peers. However, he has been criticized by Jannik Sinner (and some tennis fans) for his tendency to hype up the crowd during matches by celebrating excessively.
Patrick Mouratoglou, who said players like Tiafoe keep younger fans on board, countered this criticism.
Frances Tiafoe: How Far Can He Go?
Despite having been on tour as a pro player for 8 years, it seems like Tiafoe’s game still has room for improvement. His net game and second serve are not yet up to par, but what hinders Tiafoe even more is his inability to bring out his full potential in key moments or important matches.
However, Tiafoe has also had moments where he showed how high his ceiling can be. A great example is the US Open In 2022, where Tiafoe beat Nadal and went on to reach the semi-final.
These types of matches are proof that Tiafoe can reach great heights when he is at his best. When John McEnroe selected Tiafoe for the 2022 Laver Cup, the 7-time grand slam winner had nothing but praise for him, “He has raised his game to a whole new level and has shown that he can compete and win against the best players on Tour.”
But unfortunately, Tiafoe often struggles to make deep runs in big tournaments.
He has only managed to get into the second week of a grand slam three times, and in Master 1000 tournaments, his best result is one semi-final in the 2023 Indian Wells tournament.
His results in these tournaments have been on the rise for the last two years, but a younger generation seems to be surpassing Tiafoe.
This generation with players like Rune Holger, Jannik Sinner, and Carlos Alcaraz are going to make it really difficult for the 25-year-old to win big titles. The most recent example of this is his loss against 20-year-old Ben Shelton at the US Open.
There is no doubt Tiafoe has the capabilities to win tournaments, but most likely not on the biggest stages.
Andy Roddick, still the last male American to win a grand slam, has also expressed his doubts on Tiafoe’s ability to win grand slams “I don’t know if he is consistent enough for a slam, because you have to be mentally there for the entire time. But I hope he does it.”
Frances Tiafoe: What the Bros Say
No player likes to see Tiafoe on their side of the draw. His weapons can pose a threat to every player on fast hard courts and even grass. When he plays maturely, with a clear game plan, and manages to stay calm during important moments, he can probably beat or give a hard time to anyone he faces.
His results have improved over the last couple of years, but too often, Tiafoe is unable to bring out his best tennis when it matters the most.
The tennis world has probably not seen the best of him yet, since he can still grow a lot as a player.
At the beginning of 2023, Tiafoe had to deal with a persistent elbow injury. It’s fair to say that he recovered well and came back stronger. But for a player who isn’t the most consistent result-wise, injuries can be really problematic.
So, if Tiafoe wants to have a shot at improving and keeping his level high, it will be essential for him to stay fit and avoid being out of his rhythm for too long.
Either way, Tiafoe is a likable, entertaining guy and a personality this sport desperately needs. He brings a positive vibe to the tennis world.
Tiafoe is the kind of player who makes younger players fall in love with the game. In some ways you could compare him to athletes like Nick Kyrgios or Neymar: Not the most decorated players, but when they are playing at their best, spectators don’t want to miss a second of the game.
