By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday August 5, 2023
Frances Tiafoe’s recent run of success, dating back to his trip to the US Open semifinals and leading through his two titles in 2023 which have taken him into the Top 10 for the first time, have been a game changer in terms of popularity.
He could feel it around the nation’s capital this week, where he made his seventh career appearance at the Mubadala Citi DC Open to greater fanfare than he has ever felt before.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said of the support he got, after losing his quarterfinal match in straight sets to an in-form Dan Evans late Friday night. “I never felt like this playing here. Everyone was taking me in unbelievable. As soon as I get on-site, everyone is screaming, yelling. I have never had this much love playing here ever.
“Every time I played, it was packed. People were going crazy. Even there, I felt like a Grand Slam match. But it’s unfortunate. I’m down. Again, this is a tournament I really want to win one day, and I felt like I really could have went deep this year.”
Tiafoe’s expectations have soared right along with his ranking, which explains the extreme disappointment he felt about having not been able to back up his seed this week. The No.2 seed fell out in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year after dropping a wild epic to Nick Kyrgios in the last eight in 2022.
Tiafoe could not hide his disappointment after Friday’s loss.
“It’s tough,” he said. “It’s really hard. Everyone was there, definitely, to see me play and win. It was tough. Especially that, I lost last year on a Friday night, epic. And this year also lost on a Friday night in the quarters. “I feel like where I am in my career right now I need to start going deep, making finals, winning them.”
Unfortunately for Tiafoe, Evans may have just played the match of his career on Friday night. The Brit seemed to relish the spoiler role, and he was flawless from start to finish.
“He played a great match,” Tiafoe explained, “but it doesn’t lessen anything. It hurts. It’s tough. I mean, you’ve got to look at, have a little perspective as well. I genuinely feel like I played one bad game tonight. Other than that, he played great tennis, man. It was tough.”
At 25, Tiafoe will have plenty of chances to come back and make good on his dream of winning the title at his hometown event. For now, he can chalk it up as a growing experience. He played under the spotlight this week in D.C., held his own, though in disappointing defeat at the end.
In the big picture it may be a growing experience, and one that strengthens him for the hard battles to come on the US Open hard courts this summer.
In the grand scheme, not such a bad thing, after all…
