“You can’t make it up,” 24-year-old tennis player Frances Tiafoe reflects on his fairy tale story, from growing up as the scrawny boy of indigent immigrant parents, to becoming the future hopeful of American men’s tennis.
Tiafoe made a historic run at this summer’s U.S. Open by defeating some of the world’s most esteemed tennis players, including 22-time Grand Slam winner and world No. 2, Rafael Nadal, to become the first American man since Andy Roddick in 2006 to reach the Slam’s semifinal (ABC). What is more impressive than his stunning performance, though, are his humble origins and the impact he continues to make on his home community.
Born and raised in Prince George’s County, Tiafoe and his twin brother Franklin are sons of refugees, who were uprooted by the Sierra Leonean Civil War in the 1990s (The Guardian). Tiafoe’s father, Constant, was a day laborer and part of the construction crew that built the 15-acre Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC), a program to recruit and develop tennis enthusiasts from youth outreach programs and neighboring communities (Andscape). The managers and founder of the tennis academy quickly noted Constant’s diligent work ethic, hiring him as a custodian upon the completion of the project. With their mother’s frequent absence as a nurse and their father’s long hours, the twins roamed the facilities, befriending employees and club members and often sleeping overnight in a makeshift office converted from their father’s utility space (Andscape).
“It was a pretty small room,” Tiafoe told Andscape in 2019. “There were two massage tables in there, and my father slept on one and me and my brother were small enough to share the other” (Andscape).
Eventually, the boys were offered free lessons to practice with JTCC’s youngest age group. Oftentimes, the other children would tease Tiafoe for his threadbare Pikachu shirts and khaki shorts, or the handed-down shoes that bared his toes. His used racquets came from discarded bins, and were often too large for his own diminutive stature, which has contributed to some quirks in his tennis form. Undeniably, what Tiafoe lacked in material possessions was compensated by his thirst for the game. A JTCC staff member recounts a precocious little boy, with legs still so short that they dangled above the ground as he sat on courtside benches, intently studying the elite players and their instructors’ every move (Andscape).
According to Misha Kouznetsov, the JTCC coach who would go on to become Frances’ mentor until the age of 17, Tiafoe would practice serves on a vacant court well past dusk and be pounding balls against a wall when Kouznetzov arrived in the early mornings. “He wasn’t any more talented than the other [kids] who were there, “ his mentor said, “but when I came to work in the morning, he was there. When I left at night, he was there. I saw a kid who was always there, and a kid who I could teach as much tennis as I wanted to.”
At the age of nine, Tiafoe entered and won his first tournament, Washington’s Mall Open (The Washington Post). Kouznetsov recognizes this pivotal win as a catalyst for the series of successes in the years to come as he continued to sponsor young Tiafoe to various tournaments around the globe. By the age of 15, the teen became the youngest in the sport’s history to capture the prestigious 18-and-under-boys’ Orange Bowl International Championship title.
Strapped by limited finances for travel arrangements, Constant had yet to see many of his teen son’s tournaments in-person. He was, nevertheless, grateful for the nearly half-million dollars in investment the JTCC had provided to his boys (The Washington Post). The current tuition for the full-time tennis program alone runs in upwards of $31,000 annually, according to the JTCC website, not including additional fees for the academic component of which Tiafoe had also been a part of since fifth grade.
“It takes a village,” the persistently cheerful rising tennis star reflects about his childhood, “Without this place, you guys probably wouldn’t know who Frances Tiafoe is” (The Washington Post).
Forgoing his parents’ urging to leverage his tennis opportunities as a means for college admission, Tiafoe wanted to prove that he can break boundaries into a sport that traditionally was meant for the affluent and privileged.
The motto, ‘There’s no reason to have a plan B, because it distracts from plan A,’ was ingrained in young Tiafoe as he forged forward, turning professional on the tennis tour at the age of 17. The same year, the teen was presented with a wild card entry into the main draw of the French Open, one of the four major tournaments of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) (Andscape). It was not long before the boy who once slept in the storage room in a College Park tennis complex was discovered by the general public. His larger-than-life personality, rather than the prim decorum expected of the usual tennis player, garnered the attention of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports as they courted to become the teen’s management team. No longer were the days of poor equipment or second-hand clothes. Among the many sponsorships, Tiafoe has signed multi-million dollar deals with apparel company Nike, luxury brand watchmaker TAG Heuer, and Japanese racquet manufacturer Yonex (Sports Khabri).
Despite his rise to fame, Tiafoe remains deeply rooted to the community that created him. Frances’ virtues are well-represented in his commitment to inspiring children, particularly those from similar backgrounds as his -– the boys and girls who did not grow up with the parental resources or monetary means to play tennis. Tiafoe often drops by his home turf at the JTCC to socialize, encourage, and rally with some of its young players.
The tennis academy’s group of rising juniors have a lot to say about Tiafoe’s impact on them. “It’s nice to see someone who came up from the same place as me do something so incredible,” 16-year-old Cyrus Majoob said, as Frances continues to train at the Center whenever he returns to College Park (WUSA9).
“He knows them all by name,” JTCC’s Vice-President Joe Wilkerson claims. “He’s very much available to everybody when they’re here. It’s probably sometimes to his own fault” (New York Times).
Tiafoe’s charity is not only confined to JTCC; he has also joined the kids on the courts at Washington Tennis and Education Foundation (WTEF) in Washington D.C. The WTEF, the organization that owns and operates the District’s Citi Open tournament, aims to assist underprivileged youths by introducing them to tennis while encouraging academic excellence. “Our kids actually got to hit with [Frances],” said Rebecca Crouch, President of the WTEF in AP News. “And literally in that moment, I could see the sparkle in their eyes. They lit up.”
“TI-A-FOE! TI-A-FOE! TI-A-FOE!”
Chants of support for the American player erupted through Arthur Ashe Stadium in the world’s largest tennis arena in Flushing Meadows, New York. A sold-out crowd of nearly 24 thousand fans watched as Tiafoe battled with Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in a nail-biting 5-setter at this year’s U.S. Open semifinal. Both players were fighting for a coveted spot to make history: Alcaraz to have a chance at becoming the youngest No. 1 male tennis player in the world, and Tiafoe with an opportunity to be the next black man to win the U.S. Open since Arthur Ashe, the late American tennis player after which the stadium was named.
“I really shouldn’t be here; I overcame some incredible odds to get to where I’m at today,” Tiafoe said. “Hopefully there are some young people who will look at me and understand that if you are obsessed in being great at what you do, you can escape any situation” (Andscapes).
Whether he goes on to win a Grand Slam or not, his community in Prince George’s County as well as fans across the world already know that he has achieved the American fairy tale.
Frances is right – “You really can’t make it up.”
Article written by Huan Changvu of Winston Churchill High School
Graphic courtesy of Thomas S. Wootton High School