Frances Tiafoe is back and is fired up for his favourite tournament of the season.
“I'm super excited to be here,” he said to the media at Flushing Meadows ahead of the US Open.
After a slow start to the year, the American’s confidence has returned just in time for the final slam of the year in New York City, following a runner-up finish to No.1 Jannik Sinner at the Cincinnati Open last week.
“I think the one thing you see is a lot more joy and excitement when I'm playing when I'm really confident. The level of fear I instill in my opponent, for sure,” the American said.
“I find I'm much more aggressive, much more sure of myself. I get the crowd into it, play with much more passion, energy, than when I'm not. I think it's two different Franceses for sure.”
[ATP APP]Tiafoe, who has not won a tour-level title since Stuttgart in 2023, has a strong record in the Big Apple. In 2022, he made a memorable run to the semi-finals, losing to the eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in an epic five-setter. The 26-year-old has made the fourth round or better at the US Open since 2020 and is aiming to reach the second week for a fifth consecutive year. Making his 10th main draw appearance at the US Open, the three-time tour level titlist has a win/loss record of 24-19 in 2024.
“Obviously not every day you're going to be feeling your absolute best and be so amped up. The biggest thing is try to be as present as possible each week and try to get the most out of yourself, even those days when you're not playing your best. That's what's been better for me as of late.”
The American saw some changes in his coaching team, having split with his long-term coach and former professional player Wayne Ferreira in December 2023, and Diego Moyano in April 2024. Following a third-round loss to Alcaraz at Wimbledon, he appointed David Witt as his new coach in July, who has previously coached WTA players Jessica Pegula and Venus Williams.
“He's very similar to me in personality, for sure. He's instilled a lot of confidence in me,” Tiafoe said. “He’s constantly always telling me to believe in myself. And just telling me the obvious, but just lock in more on each point, play less loose points.
“Obviously you guys know I can get really high and sometimes pretty low, and he's kind of managed to keep me pretty even-keeled and stay much more poised while I'm out there. Not allowing moments to be bigger than what they are, or moments to be as strenuous as sometimes I can make them as.”
After reaching the final in Cincinnati, the American jumped to No. 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings to become the fifth American in the Top 20. He joined No. 12 Taylor Fritz, No.13 Ben Shelton, No. 14 Tommy Paul, and No. 16 Sebastian Korda in that list.
This is the first time since 1996 that five Americans are in the Top 20 of the PIF ATP Rankings.
“American guys have been playing well for a really long time. It's nice, definitely, you know, to be back up there with those guys.”
“But, obviously I want to be back closer to where I want to be, Top 10, so on and so forth. But last week was definitely a good steppingstone towards that.”
At this US Open, Tiafoe is defending quarter-final points, having lost to compatriot Ben Shelton in four sets last year. The two are drawn to face each other in the third round this year. Placed in the bottom half of the draw, the winner of their third-round match, should it happen, could potentially face defending champion and No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic in the fourth round.
Shelton is set to play an entertaining opener against the 2020 champion Dominic Thiem. Tiafoe opens his campaign against fellow American Aleksandar Kovacevic.
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