Getting to Know Young Tennis Phenom Frances Tiafoe
Young tennis phenom Frances Tiafoe, the No. 12 seed, has joined the many high-ranked players ousted from Wimbledon. He was eliminated by Cameron Norrie in four sets on Wednesday, July 2.
The last time he exited the All England Club before the third round was in 2019, when he lost his opening match, according to ESPN.
Despite his early loss at Wimbledon, let's learn about this young tennis phenom.
Nicknamed Big Foe, Tiafoe started playing tennis against a wall at age 3 with his twin brother, Franklin.
He went on to train at the Junior Tennis Champions Centre in College Park, MD, where his father was the Head of Maintenance. He would join his father and spend whole days at the tennis centre. Both of his parents, Frances Sr. and Alphina, moved from Sierra Leone to the USA in 1996, according to ATP Tour.
Tiafoe's favorite surface is clay, and his favorite shot is his forehand. In 2020, the young champion was awarded the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award. He was named the Ambassador for ThanksUSA and USTA's National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL). During the Covid-19 pandemic, Tiafoe auctioned off signed memorabilia to benefit the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.
Tiafoe went pro in 2015. He is the former World No. 2 junior. He achieved his career-high No. 10 in June 2023, owning ATP Tour titles on all three surfaces. Tiafoe defeated four-time champion and tennis legend Rafael Nadal en route to the 2022 US Open, becoming the 1st American men’s semi-finalist since Andy Roddick in 2006 to do so at the US Open.
