It has been nearly been two years since Frances Tiafoe’s lights-out tennis propelled him to the semi-finals of the 2022 US Open.
The tournament saw Tiafoe achieve his best grand slam performance to date with notable victories over Andrey Rublev and the great Rafael Nadal. A gruelling 5 set defeat to the eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz saw his run come to an end.
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With the 2024 addition fast approaching, the 26-year-old will be looking for similar success.
The final grand slam of the tennis season has proved to be the American’s most successful during his career.
Alongside his semifinal run at the tournament in 2022; a couple of 4th round appearances in previous years and a quarter final appearance last season indicate that Tiafoe thrives in front of a home crowd.
“I will come back and win this thing one day” were his words after defeat to Alcaraz after that semi-final run.
That motivation could be the key to him achieving a season’s best grand slam performance. For him this would mean getting past the 3rd round.
The thought of returning to New York will be one to excite Tiafoe as it hasn’t been the easiest of seasons for him.
Consecutive wins have been difficult to come by during the first half of the year. Early 2nd round exits in the Australian and French Open have highlighted this.
He was more successful at Wimbledon, he impressively came back from 2 sets down against Matteo Arnaldi to earn victory in the first round and defeated Borna Coric in the second in straight sets. This set up a clash with his rival from the US Open semi-final two years ago, Carlos Alcaraz.
Once more he came up short in 5 sets to the Spaniard, but the manner of the performance indicated that he does not fear the big occasion.
After taking Alcaraz to a fourth set tiebreak, where a win would take the match, his counterparts skill proved ultimately too strong.
The valiant effort was one to take much positivity from, however. With his lack of wins before this match it shows that he can always compete against those who are on best form.
Following on from this match, Tiafoe has gone straight back to the hard courts, declining the opportunity to represent the United States at the recent Paris Olympics. As the games were played on the famous clay at Rolland Garros, he perhaps wants to concentrate solely on his home tournament, the US Open.
He recently reached the semi-finals of the Washington ATP losing out to fellow American Sebastian Korda who went on to win the title.
These show signs that Tiafoe may be finding his best form at the end of the season where some players find it difficult to find consistency.
He is currently playing at the master’s 1000 Cincinnati event where he won his opening round match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
This will be his final event before taking to the famous US Open courts in New York. With it being the last grand slam of the year, hopefully he finds his best form.