‘I’m so proud of him’ – How Frances Tiafoe found the right path before dream run at US Open

Things seem to be finally falling into place for the popular Frances Tiafoe, much to the delight of his scores of fans, which include Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was “losing his mind” watching him defeat Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.

She couldn’t be happier to see him enjoy this breakthrough in New York.

“I’m so proud of him. I know he had some tough matches this summer. Actually kind of funny, I was asking about a couple of his matches, and I’m pretty candid, I’d be like, ‘Yeah, you were up like 4-0 against Fritz in the third; what happened?’” said Pegula.

“I’ve always kind of got on him, like, ‘Can you win a match, like, normal and not be this whole theatrical event?’

“I always give him c***. It’s amazing to see how he has played so much more focused even though he had a couple tough matches in Montreal and Cincinnati and all this stuff. I was like, ‘You’re playing so much better. It’s coming. It’s just coming for that one match’.

“It came here at the US Open, so it’s really nice to see. He’s so much fun to watch, so charismatic. Nothing but good things to say about him. I’m really proud of him for really focusing these last couple weeks because he can be all over the place.

“The way he’s taking care of business has been really, really impressive.”

He certainly has been taking care of business. Tiafoe has dropped just one set en route to the semi-finals, has held in 87 percent of his service games, and is averaging 15.2 aces per match so far this fortnight.

On his 26th Grand Slam main draw appearance, Tiafoe is through to the final four for the first time in his career and he says taking a more professional approach is why he’s been able to make it this far.

“I’m starting to know how to really come to Slams and be ready,” the 24-year-old said earlier this week.

“I think getting to the second week, not losing a set, helps. Things like that. Resting. I haven’t went to dinner out once. Doing, like, Uber Eats and stuff, just chilling. Yeah, I’m just kind of approaching this a lot different.

“I feel fit. Like my fitness is solid right now. I’ve slimmed out a lot. Really put the time in with that.”

Tiafoe admits he got “complacent” in 2019, following a strong start to his professional career. But he has managed to build a rock solid team behind him that includes his coach South African former top-10 player Wayne Ferreira and his agent Jill Smoller, whose illustrious client list includes Serena Williams.

Ferreira explained the ups and downs of the two and a half years he has had with Tiafoe, and why he was well-positioned to get his charge on track.

“Some players have difficulties being really, really talented and just playing the game without really understanding what it is you need to do,” Ferreira told reporters in New York ahead of the Friday’s semi-finals.

“I think I helped him because I played and I went through the issues of being relatively talented and being lazy, and then finding the right team, people behind me pushing me to do the right thing day to day with the food, practising and with the fitness and gym work.

“That’s something he had to really change. He had to really improve the food. Food intake was terrible at the beginning. The effort on the practices and on the court wasn’t good enough.

“It’s taken time for us to get gradually to where we are today. He still has a few things to improve and do better, but it’s been a bit of a struggle.”

Nutrition has been a big improvement for Tiafoe, who according to Ferreira, used to eat a lot of sweets, had meals at unusual hours and regularly skipped breakfast.

“He didn’t really have a good set of times on how or when to eat before matches, what to eat after matches,” Ferreira added.

“You need a little guidance on that side, and he’s done well on that side of it.”

Tiafoe acknowledges his team’s role in helping him adopt better habits and is happy the work is finally paying off.

“I started really falling in love with the process, just trying to get better. I think during that time the cameras weren’t on me, attention wasn’t on me, I was able to just kind of get better and do my own thing,” said Tiafoe.

“I stopped trying to be the guy. Like when things were going to happen, it was going to happen. I was fine with it. I was comfortable with myself. Yeah, now, it’s all come into fruition.”