Tiafoe offers hope for present and future of US men's tennis

[ASFN Admin]

Frances Tiafoe’s run to the U.S. Open semifinals is, first and foremost, about Tiafoe himself, a 24-year-old from Maryland who took up tennis because his father was a janitor at a junior training center, a player who never won a match past the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament until now, who owns one career ATP title and a sub-.500 career record, and whose ranking ranged from 24 to 74 over the past two seasons. Tiafoe's tale — which already includes a victory over 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal along the way to Friday’s matchup against No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain with a berth in the final at stake — is about so much more, too. Tiafoe is the first man from the United States to reach the semifinals at Flushing Meadows since Andy Roddick, 16 years ago.

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