Frances Tiafoe created history at the US Open 2022 when he became the first American men’s singles player since Andy Roddick to make the semifinals of their home Grand Slam since 2006. Along the way, Tiafoe famously defeated Rafael Nadal in the Round of 16, denying the Spaniard his 3rd Grand Slam of the year. Known as the ‘Big Foe’ on the ATP Tour and by his friends, the 25-year-old fired many powerful serves and forehands which proved to be too much for Nadal.
It was a huge achievement since Rafael Nadal has achieved massive success at the US Open over the years. The Spaniard won the event in 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019. After the US Open win, Frances Tiafoe naturally had a candid reaction, not being able to believe that he was able to pull off which he called ‘the biggest win of his career’ till date.
Frances Tiafoe reacts after beating Rafael Nadal for the first time
Frances Tiafoe was in tears of happiness with his team members immediately following the victory. In Netflix’s second season of the series Break Point, the American was quoted as saying that ‘I hope I would never have to play Rafael Nadal again!’. He also showed his love and respect for the Spaniard in the episode, claiming that it was a tough challenge since he had won 22 Grand Slams and 92 titles. The score line eventually read 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in Tiafoe’s favor, yet the match had many ups and downs, which made that Round of 16 match arguably the most awaited and entertaining one for fans around the world.
Rafael Nadal pushed Tiafoe to the brink yet the American eventually made the Spaniard go out of gas. That is something the legend was gracious enough to acknowledge in the post-match press conference –
“I can find excuses but for me it’s simple: when you don’t play at the level that you should… you can’t win. My opponent was the better player,” Nadal was quoted as saying.
And Nadal had no answers to Tiafoe a month later as well. In Roger Federer’s final professional tennis match, Rafael Nadal teamed up with the Swiss maestro to make it a blockbuster farewell for him. Federer and Nadal played for Team Europe in a men’s doubles match against Team World’s Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe at the Laver Cup in London.
However, Sock and Tiafoe denied Federer a fairytale win as they beat him and Nadal, 4-6, 7-6, 11-9. Barring the Laver Cup doubles match, Tiafoe and Nadal have played thrice against each other in the men’s singles category on the ATP Tour, with the Spaniard still leading 2-1.
Frances Tiafoe ranking and net worth
At the moment, the Frances Tiafoe ranking is 10 on the ATP Tour. Interestingly, he has the mercurial Australian star, Nick Kyrgios as his coach. This has been a steady rise for Tiafoe, who has had a year to remember in 2023 so far.
Although he has not managed to get past the Round of 32 in any of the Grand Slams so far, he won the US Open Clay Court Championship and the BOSS Open in Stuttgart. For the first time in his career, he has managed to win titles on clay and grass, going beyond his comfort zone of the hard court surface.
When it comes to the Frances Tiafoe net worth figure, it is reportedly above $6 million as per The Daily Express. For his win over Nadal last year, Tiafoe earned a whopping $705,000. It is believed that Tiafoe has won approximately $9.2 million in prize money so far, despite winning just 3 titles. His story is remarkable considering his humble beginnings as his parents are from Sierra Leone, which was war-torn during Tiafoe’s growing up years, and that made them shift to the United States.
In Break Point, Tiafoe revealed that there were many nights he struggled to sleep since his mother was working double shifts to help them survive. On the other hand, his father was a maintenance worker at a tennis center, and that gave him some free-of-cost, first hand exposure to playing tennis. Little could one have predicted that the man who was selected by Rafael Nadal as his ball-hitting partner at the French Open 2017, would beat that very champion 5 years later in New York City.
