Frances Tiafoe putting Grand Slam success ahead of climb up rankings – ‘Now it’s about winning Wimbledon’

Frances Tiafoe has set his sights on “winning Wimbledon” and says a Grand Slam title is more important to him than climbing the rankings.

The American broke the top 10 for the first time this year and has his home major, the US Open, coming up at the end of the month.

Tiafoe is yet to reach a Grand Slam final, coming closest with a run to the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows last year, and bowed out of Wimbledon in the third round against Grigor Dimitrov last month.

“Ultimately, I want to stay in the top 10,” Tiafoe said.

“I want to be No. 8, I want to be No. 7, No. 5, No. 1, obviously.

“But, I mean, flat-out truth, whether No. 10 or No. 5, I just want to win a Slam at this point. I don’t really care if I’m No. 3.

“If I’m No. 3 in the world and never won a Slam, that would be hard for me.

“I could have been No. 19 but I won a Slam. That’s how much winning a Slam would mean to me.

“At this point now, cracking top 10 is great, a huge milestone for me and my family.

“Now it’s about winning Wimbledon. If I do that, I don’t know if you’ll see me again. No, I’m joking but it will be one hell of a day.”

This week Tiafoe will compete on home turf at the Citi Open in Washington, where he is seeded second and set to face Aslan Karatsev in the second round.

Washington D.C. is Tiafoe’s home city, so despite the tournament’s lower ranking as an ATP 500 event, he insists it ranks highly on his priority list for the year.

“It’s irrelevant [that it’s ATP 500]. Even if it was a 250, honestly,” he said.

“This tournament is one of the reasons why I play pro tennis. Being this close to fans. You see a lot of fans here so up close and personal with the players.

“I used to sneak into this thing as a kid. Now I just really want to win this event. Outside of winning Slams and maybe Masters Series, this is definitely up there.

“It would be a very emotional day, I think it would be a great day for the city of D.C.”