“Nadal conqueror .. Young King”: LeBron James, NBA community, and the whole world celebrates Francis Tiafoe

Akash Murty | 06/09/2022
“Nadal conqueror .. Young King”: LeBron James, NBA community, and the whole world congratulates Francis Tiafoe

24-year-old Tiafoe pulled off a top-shelf upset, defeating Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of the US Open to reach his first quarter-finals.

The last couple of months haven’t been as kind to Rafael Nadal, as the beginning of 2022 was. He won the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June then got to the semifinals at Wimbledon before pulling out of the grass-court tournament due to a torn abdominal muscle.

Well before two months after that terrible injury, the fighter that he is, The King of the clay courts travelled to New York with an adjustment in the toss of serve, making it not as high as before to keep himself from going at it with full swing.

The world no.2 did not face any issues until the third round other than breaking his own nose after his racket slipped, bounced off the court and hit him in the face in the second round.

He defeated his good old opponent Richard Gasquet 6-0, 6-1, 7-5 to extend his Grand Slam winning streak in 2022 to 22-0 and set up a match with world no.22 Francis Tiafoe.

Also read: 37 y/o Shaquille O’Neal teaming up with LeBron James required a $500,000 cash payment

 

Tiafoe stuns Rafel Nadal and gets crowned by LeBron James as ‘The Young King’

If the number “2” was any good for the 22-time Grand Slam champion, he’d have won his 4th round game against the young local hero. But as things stand, it seems “2” or “22” worked for American no.2 much better than it did for World no.2.

The youngster has done what he believed in, even though he sounded too bold to hear after he won his game in 3rd round. “Now I believe I can beat him. … I’m definitely going to come after him,” said the 24-year-old Tiafoe, who is from Maryland. And he had a plan.

“Match his intensity from the first point to the last,” Tiafoe said after getting past No. 14 Diego Schwartzman. “You can’t really have any dips. He [Rafa] takes advantage of it.”

Tiafoe didn’t give Nadal much chance who clearly looked like struggling to get any of his power behind his shots and the American stormed to a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory in 3hr 34 min.

The whole country including the NBA community, led by LeBron James is proud of the youngster for beating Rafa and reaching the quarterfinals of one of the most prestigious awards in world Tennis.

Also read: “LeBron James would be dumb not to pick me”: Stephen Curry on $1 billion LBJ wanting to team up

Post Edited By: Akash Murty
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About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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