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Frances Tiafoe beats Rafael Nadal in US Open, stuns No. 2 in 4th round



NEW YORK — Frances Tiafoe, who learned tennis at the College Park, Maryland, facility where his immigrant father was a custodian, authored one of the greatest American tennis stories of his generation on Labor Day. 

The 24-year old, who has lingered in the second tier of ATP pros for most of his career without a major breakthrough, put on the performance of his career Monday to knock 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal out of the U.S. Open 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Tiafoe advances to the quarterfinals of a major for just the second time in his career and first since the 2019 Australian Open. He will face No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

“It was definitely one hell of a performance,” Tiafoe said. “I played really well today, and I guess just came out there and believed I could do it. It helps that I had played him a couple times, but I’m a different person now, different player and went out there tried to get a W and that’s what I did.”

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With Nadal’s exit following the defeat of No. 1 seed and defending champion Daniil Medvedev on Sunday, this U.S. Open is officially wide open. Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, is the only major winner remaining in the draw.  

The favorite for the title may well now by Nick Kyrgios, who made the Wimbledon final earlier this year and knocked Medvedev out of the tournament with a stunningly good four set performance. But now that Nadal is out, this is a different kind of pressure that none of the quarterfinalists have faced before. 

“I know what I can do and I know what I’m capable of doing the next couple matches if that happens,” Tiafoe said. “But I still feel no pressure. I still feel like I’m not supposed to do anything.”

Tiafoe, who has just one ATP title on his résumé, has always had a flashy game and fancied himself a player who thrives against top opponents on big stages. None was bigger than what he faced Monday.

But from the very beginning, Tiafoe employed massive groundstrokes and timely serves to put Nadal on his heels. And even when Nadal pulled even in the second set, then took a break lead early in the fourth, Tiafoe kept his composure and responded with even more aggression, finishing the match with 49 winners to Nadal’s 33.

Nadal, who has dealt with an abdominal injury since Wimbledon and whose wife has dealt with pregnancy complications according to reports in the Spanish media, referenced “mental issues” that have affected him for a couple months. But at the end of the day, he offered no excuses for a performance in which he looked every bit of his 36 years. 

“I was not able to hold a high level of tennis for a long time,” Nadal said. “I was not enough quick on my movements. He was able to take the ball too many times very early, so I was not able to push him back.

“Tennis is a sport of position a lot of times, no? If not, you need to be very, very quick and very young. I am not in that moment anymore. My shots needs to be better. In some way my understanding of the game and the quality of my shots were not enough good, were poor, because I was not able to create damage on him. Well done for him. He was better than me.”

Tiafoe’s win was a milestone for American men’s tennis, which hasn’t had many memorable moments — particularly at the U.S. Open — since Andy Roddick held the trophy here in 2003. In fact, the only American men’s player under age 30 who had beaten one of tennis’ Big Three (Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic) in any tournament was Taylor Fritz’s victory over Nadal in the Indian Wells final earlier this year. 

For Tiafoe to make that kind of history at a Grand Slam immediately resonated beyond tennis. Shortly after his win, he said Chris Paul texted him congratulations and returned to the locker room to find a Twitter shout-out from LeBron James.

“I was losing it in the locker room, bro, I was going crazy,” said Tiafoe, who also had Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal supporting him in his player box Monday. “That’s my guy, so to see him post that I was like, should I retweet it as soon as he sent it? Nah, I’m going to be cool and act like I didn’t see it and then retweet it three hours later. He knows I’m a big fan of his.”

Tiafoe making his mark at this level of tournament is undeniably good for tennis because of both his charismatic game and his amazing backstory. Both of his parents escaped the civil war in Sierra Leone and emigrated to the U.S., where Frances was born. His mother worked overnights as a nurse, and his father Constant worked construction on a tennis center where he would eventually get a job working in custodial services and maintenance. 

When Frances took an interest in the game, the hope was that it would lead to a college education that his family couldn’t afford. Instead, it has made for a lucrative career whose ceiling has been raised considerably. 

“Us being around tennis was about us getting out of our neighborhood, my dad being able to watch us,” Tiafoe said. “It wasn’t supposed to be anything like this. 

“To see them experience me beating Rafa Nadal…they saw me have big wins before, but to see me beat one of those Mt. Rushmore guys, I can’t imagine what was going through their heads.”

Tiafoe, ranked 26th in the world, has always had confidence that he could play at the highest level of men’s tennis. Now he’s got the biggest victory of his career to prove it.  

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