After seeing Jannik Sinner in action and going viral for vibing in the stands of the Arthur Ashe, Serena Williams also watched Grigor Dimitrov and Frances Tiafoe play their respective fourth round matches on Sunday. Dishing out a pep talk to both players before they took to the court, Serena played a huge role in helping them win. Now, both her friends must face each other in the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam.
Having won the US Open 6 times, Serena is more than capable of dishing out advice to Dimitrov and Tiafoe. Her words of encouragement also helped both clinch solid wins – the Bulgarian defeated Andrey Rublev in five sets & the ‘Big Foe’ defeated Alexei Popyrin in four sets. With this, she has become the first individual to unofficially “coach” two players to win their respective Round of 16 encounters on the same day at the US Open.
After a 3-hour 38-minute thriller against Rublev, Dimitrov openly admitted in his post-match interview that he received valuable words of advice from the American legend.
“She gave me a good pep talk yesterday. Yep, I know, exactly. I’m thrilled,” Dimitrov revealed during the on-court interview.
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After that, in his post-match press conference, Tiafoe also revealed how Meka played a huge role in his win over the Aussie.
“Telling me she’s always following no matter what, telling me it’s so good to see now that I’m done, you’re the guy of colour playing and doing well.”
“It was really cool to have her want to talk to me before a match and really say she wants me to do this thing and that I’m capable of doing it,” said Tiafoe.
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The 42-year-old has also extended her support to players from the WTA. As of now, the likes of Iga Swiatek and Taylor Townsend have been fortunate to have a word with the legend.
At the start of the New York-based major tournament, Swiatek was seen having a conversation with Williams at the gym. Considering that the Polish star has made her way to the fourth round without even dropping a single set, it is safe to assume that Serena’s advice worked in her favor.
Iga and Serena
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* @usopen on IG pic.twitter.com/GstnjBTwzk— Iga Swiatek Updates (@Gosia678) September 1, 2024
All the players – Dimitrov, Tiafoe, and Swiatek – that she’s spoken to during the US Open 2024, have played impeccable tennis. This should be motivating enough for Serena Williams to try her luck as a full-time coach or a motivational speaker in the future, who knows?
Coming back to the men’s quarter-final matchup, Tiafoe will hope to gain full support against Dimitrov on Tuesday, September 3 with the match scheduled to begin not before 8.15 PM ET at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Fans can catch all the action on ESPN+ and Fubo in the United States.
