Frances Tiafoe is one of the rising stars in the world of tennis at present. As Tiafoe gears up for another Grand Slam on home soil in the United States, his latest venture has won many hearts. Alongside the USTA Foundation, the player launched The Francis Tiafoe Fund at his home tennis center, the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland.
The purpose behind the same is to financially assist in supporting National Junior Tennis and Learning chapters, such as the JTCC, throughout the United States. Tiafoe comes from humble beginnings itself, making him want to give back to society in a more direct manner through the game itself. Here’s a deeper insight into the American’s story and how much have his earnings shot up to this year.
Tiafoe career prize money could cross $10 million mark in 2023
2023 has been largely a good year so far for Frances Tiafoe. He is currently ranked 10th on the ATP Tour in the men’s singles category, while also dabbling in the men’s doubles game in some events.
Although he has not managed to get past the Round of 32 in any of the Grand Slams so far this year, 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. After famously defeating Rafael Nadal last year in the US Open Round of 16, Tiafoe earned a whopping $705,000. It is believed that he has won approximately $9.2 million in prize money so far, despite winning just 3 ATP titles in his career.
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 Netflix’s 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. Call it destiny, but it was at that very tennis center where Tiafoe recently conducted a clinic to launch his fund.
Never giving up, Tiafoe sometimes even plied his trade by being a training/ball hitting partner for some greats, which ironically included Rafael Nadal once in the French Open 2014. The 25-year-old is largely inspired by 2009 US Open champion, Juan Martin del Potro in tennis and Kevin Durant in basketball.
Some of Tiafoe’s sponsors currently include Nike, Yonex, Tag Heuer, Nestle, Stella Artois and Cadillac. His first career sponsor was none other than Adidas.
Frances Tiafoe also inspired Chris Eubanks’ Wimbledon 2023 run
Frances Tiafoe does look for inspiration from time to time, but his impact on American tennis and not just black players in general, has been huge. So much so that Chris Eubanks, the current World No. 29, admitted once in an interaction that Tiafoe is one of the players he looks up to. The duo also recently played against each other at the Citi Open men’s doubles first round match, with Tiafoe winning.
However, Eubanks’ rise in 2023 has been remarkable, making it to the Wimbledon 2023 quarterfinals after starting the year ranked above 100. He confessed to Tiafoe that he’d visualized reaching to that stage since it is what will give him respect in the eyes of the world and that’s a story he can tell his family in the future too always. Eubanks is now aiming for a similar run in the US Open 2023, with many considering him alongside Tiafoe as the best chance amongst aspirants from the home country to win the men’s singles title for the first time since Andy Roddick in 2003.
