By Michael Mewshaw
All this spring, the hype around Frances Tiafoe continued at hurricane velocity. First it was the news that his first name had previously been misspelled. It’s –es, not –is. Then he turned pro, and rather than sign with one of the traditional agents, joined ROC Nation Sports. He parted company with a coach he’d been with since childhood and joined the ranks of USTA-trained players. But far more important was what transpired on court. Starting in January he went on a tear at Futures tournaments, winning four qualifying matches in his first event, then reaching the semifinals of the main draw. By mid-March he had taken his first Futures title and in April began playing Challenger events. Again he had to qualify, and did so with wins over fellow Americans Alex Kuznetsov and Rhyne Williams. In less than a month he had reached his first Challenger final and gained entry as a wild card at the French Open.
So expectations were at dizzying heights when Tiafoe made his debut in Paris against the Slovakian veteran Martin Klizan. After all, at his age, 17, Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander and Michael Chang had all won this Grand Slam on red clay. Why couldn’t the US wonder boy do the same?
Well, it didn’t go according to the script that many an American fan hoped for. He suffered a swift beatdown in the first round, losing 6-2, 6-1, 6-4. Indeed, for certain stretches of the match he looked utterly at sea and sulked around the back court like the adolescent he is. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in the crowd who wondered whether Tiafoe was riding a tide of frothy publicity and nothing more. But then I had a talk with Damon Austin, a man well placed to offer an objective analysis of Tiafoe’s performance and his prospects. Austin lives in Maryland, not far from the Junior Tennis Champion’s Center in College Park, where Tiafoe, the son of the maintenance man, started playing at the age of 5. In Paris coaching Frank Moser and Florian Mayer in the doubles main draw, Austin knows tennis from both ends of the spectrum, the pros as well as the juniors. He coaches Tiafoe’s twin brother Franklin, a highly-ranked junior at DeMatha High School.
For Austin, Tiafoe’s defeat was hardly a surprise. With an ATP ranking of 291, Frances was always unlikely to challenge Klizan, who’s ranked in the 30’s, has a win over Nadal, and took a clay court title in Casablanca this spring. “Sure,” Austin agreed, “Borg, Wilander and Chang made a big splash here as teenagers, but those days are gone. Professional sports economics have significantly changed the game. With so much more money on the line, players are staying around a lot longer, and to do that, they’re training harder and getting stronger. The guys are much bigger these days and the competition is much tighter. Frances is still growing and still learning.”
Among the many things Tiafoe and any young player has to master is timing. Austin made it clear that he didn’t just mean timing strokes. There’s the matter of adjusting to life on the tour, making reasonable choices about scheduling, coping with waiting, and adapting emotionally to the inevitable ups and downs. Austin stressed that there’s also the question of timing during matches, setting one’s own rhythm, refusing to let an opponent knock you off balance or force you to play at his speed.
“These and a thousand other details are things Frances has to learn,” Austin said. “But just look at his results for the last 15 months and you’ll see that he has the ability to adapt. He’s shown this at each level, going all the way back to 2014 when he was ranked 1,400 in the world and had to qualify for junior events. He’s consistently stepped up the level of his game, and if you look at his wins you’ll see a lot of three-set matches that show his determination and mental toughness. I think he’ll keep developing. It’ll get tougher. He won’t keep making meteoric and exponential strides, but I predict he’ll keep going.
“Of course, nothing’s guaranteed. He’ll need to improve his movement on court and his executions in the corners. His forehand used to be his Achilles heel, but he’s worked that out. He still needs to add variation to his backhand. He hits it fine when he’s standing still, but needs to do better with it when he’s on the run. But he’s a very focused young man and hopefully he’ll get coaching that’ll allow him to maximize his talent on court and at the same time develop life skills off court.”
Damon Austin takes an equally pragmatic and realistic look at Tiafoe’s decision to join with ROC Nation Sports rather than one of the well-known agencies. “For decades we’ve seen promising talent managed by big agencies with very mixed results. For a few it’s a dream. For others it’s a nightmare. Perhaps the ROC Nation Sports option will serve Tiafoe as others could not. Only time will tell.”
For Frances Tiafoe and his fans, it’s on to Wimbledon, where he’ll play the qualies. As Austin emphasizes, both fans and players need to be patient.
