UPDATE 9:16 a.m. 5/25/2015: The Associated Press reports that Frances Tiafoe lost in straight sets.
EARLIER: WASHINGTON — Frances Tiafoe’s trial by fire begins in earnest Monday morning.
The 17-year-old College Park, Maryland native recently made the decision to go pro, signing with Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports agency. In so doing, he switched coaches, left the Junior Tennis Champions Center where he has been training since the age of four, and moved his home base to Boca Raton, Florida. Now the real work begins, as he takes aim at a field of 128 of the best tennis players in the world.
Tiafoe was ranked 1,136th in the world at the beginning of the year, but has risen all the way to 293 entering play this week. Nevertheless, that makes him quite the longshot. But just by appearing, he’ll be the youngest American in the draw since Michael Chang shocked the tennis world by winning at Roland-Garros in 1989. That was nine years before Tiafoe was born.
That alone explains the level of hype that has swirled around the young man. The decision to sign Tiafoe says far more as much about what Roc Nation believes he might become than what he is right now.
Just look at their roster of athletes. Not only is Tiafoe easily the youngest, he’s the only tennis player. His profile, at first glance, doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the names. Surrounding Tiafoe on Roc Nation Sports’ website are photos of 2014 NBA MVP Kevin Durant, Dallas Cowboys star receiver Dez Bryant and six-time All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano. Betting on Tiafoe means hoping to cash in on more than a single player, but on the future of American tennis.
Wajif Sayed, Tiafoe’s agent at Roc Nation, recently told ATPWorldTour.com that the goal this year was to reach the top 200 in the rankings, a seemingly modest benchmark considering Tiafoe’s meteoric rise thus far. But in that same interview, it seemed as though Sayed is already wary of the hype attaching itself to his young star.
“Obviously he’s on an accelerated path right now but it’s important for us not to get too far ahead of ourselves and take it one step at a time,” Sayed said.
It doesn’t seem that long ago when American men dominated the world tennis scene. Andre and Pete Sampras combined to win 22 Grand Slam tournaments between 1990-2003. But no American man has won a Grand Slam since that year, when Andy Roddick took the U.S. Open, the heir apparent to the throne. Since then, the game has belonged to the rest of the world.
That’s the pressure heaped on Tiafoe. Not since Roddick has there been so much hype over such a young player from the states. Tiafoe’s recruitment by Roc Nation eliminated any chance of it turning out otherwise.
But now, he needs to win. Tiafoe earned a wild card entry from the USTA thanks to his solid clay finishes on the Challenger Tour. But the red clay in Paris didn’t treat him very well last year, when, as the top-seeded boy in the juniors draw, he was upset in the second round.
Tiafoe will have to make some major noise before he even gets a crack at a recognizable name, though. His first round opponent is Slovak Martin Klizan, currently ranked 35th in the world. Even if he should escape that test, two top-25 players lie in his bracket of eight, 12-seeded Frenchman Giles Simon and 24th-seeded Latvian Ernests Gulbis.
“I’m going in with no pressure,” Tiafoe said recently of the French Open. “Just going to have a lot of fun, just play my game. Going to soak it all in.”
Tiafoe’s opening round match begins at 11 a.m. local time, 5 a.m. ET Monday.
