As a child he hit balls against the wall in the Maryland tennis center where his father worked and lived. That time in Vienna Frances made Jannik lose his bearings…
Last year, fully loaded for a return to Washington, Frances Tiafoe made a confession: “I feel like I have the chance to win all four Slam tournaments. This has changed my mentality.” Big Foe shot it a little too big. Also because the big boy who grew up in the Tennis Champions Center in Maryland has reached the age of twenty-eight and so far has only won three (titles, but none at Slam level). Yet his enthusiasm always reaches seasonal highs: perhaps it’s because he really started from scratch, perhaps it’s because when he plays on American hard courts he always looks for extra motivation, perhaps it’s because when he faces the best on the circuit he tries everything, and every now and then he even succeeds. Like a few years ago against Sinner who didn’t take it very well. Who knows if the two will talk about it again at the net, now that they are crossing rackets in the quarterfinals in Miami.
the caretaker’s son
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The janitor’s son has grown up by throwing balls against the wall, while father Constant accumulates overtime hours. The work absorbs him to the point of assigning him accommodation directly inside the Junior Tennis Champions Center of Maryland. And the two children, the little twins Frances and Franklin, are fine with it: sleeping in the center rhymes with guaranteed tennis at all hours. The story of the current world number 20 begins like this: from a trip of his parents away from the horrors of Sierra Leone to the progressive growth of Tiafoe who accumulates youth tournaments in series and builds a curriculum as a new hope of US tennis. He didn’t manage to bring home the Slams, but he played a couple of semi-finals: both, naturally, at the US Open. At level 1000, however, he went one step further: in 2024 he won an epic semi-final against Rune, canceling out two match points and winning the pass to the last act. Where he falls against Sinner. But the crossings with the blue start from much further away.
SINNER’S FIRST SUCCESSES
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Jannik is ahead 4-1 in his previous matches against Big Foe, and as an eighteen-year-old he collected his first two successes in a matter of days. It is autumn 2019, that of the fast indoor tournaments that Sinner has already started liking for some time. In Antwerp, quarter-finals, the Italian arrives after having ousted the number 1 seed Gael Monfils in an hour. The adrenaline rush also has an effect on Tiafoe, three years older, yet defused on several occasions from the baseline: the match is balanced and drags on to the third set where Sinner takes it home with the cynicism that is already starting to characterize him. It is the first ATP semi-final of his career as well as the decisive step towards the top 100. And the reply arrives quickly: at the Next Gen Finals, a couple of weeks later, the Italian wins the round robin match and gets through to the direct elimination phase. Where he will triumph in the last act with De Minaur.
the outburst of vienna
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Sinner, before the arrival of Covid, seems to have already given a head start to those who are three years older on the registry. Yet the large steps taken by the blue suddenly stop, curiously with Tiafoe, in Vienna. Another indoor tournament, we are in October 2021: Jannik is ahead 6-3 5-3 and serves for the match, but is distracted by the last episode of the show put on by his opponent. Who had already started to comment on the blue’s serve during the court changes, and in the crucial game he completed a series of “fives” to the public, moments spent lying on the ground, delays in the response that irritated Sinner. The blue first loses his clarity and then the game, ending up being incredibly caught up in the second and then the third. In the press conference he doesn’t mince his words: “This time he really exaggerated. Maybe I have to learn to deal with these attitudes differently: it’s one thing to put on a show, another thing to lack respect. In some moments I was ready to serve, but I had to wait for him: he even shot at me three times. Maybe I should have talked to the referee, behaved differently. But I’m not someone who smashes rackets.” Tiafoe meanwhile gained the pass for the final, losing it to Zverev.
final in Cincinnati
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In Vienna, however, Jannik makes up for it with interest. All he has to do is wait a couple of years: quarter-finals 2023, the blue is in a state of grace and defeats Tiafoe in an hour and twenty minutes. Frances tries again with a couple of tricks: she incites the audience, tries to destabilize her opponent. But when Sinner erases his last break point, he is the one who throws his racket to the ground. Jannik’s dish is served cold. And the blue is glacial in the last crossing before Miami, at the final in Cincinnati two years ago: the blue arrives in great form and with the desire to score a double between the American 1000 and the US Open. The project goes to checkers: Frances goes down after having resisted only in the first set, dragged until the tie break, then collapses in the second. And at the end of the match he admits: “In the second set I lost the opening game: the number one players, after something like that, don’t let you breathe. But I’m enjoying my week: I’ve found enthusiasm again, tennis is a fun sport.” He knows this well, since the days when he was the caretaker’s son. And Sinner also knows this well and, in his heart, he will have dusted off a statistic: in three of his four successes against Tiafoe, he ended up winning the title…
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