First point of the match. Tiafoe charged the net in the wake of a weighty forehand and Rublev passed him with a fleeting crosscourt forehand.
Rublev may have won the point, but Tiafoe would never refrain from his sparkling and relentless aggression. Even when he missed shots, or when he was outplayed, he never doubted, never recoiled.
Such adamant determination deserved the greatest reward, a slam semifinal before his loving people, who have really played their part in getting the fire blazing.
“I just love playing in front of packed people. I love to show the world what I can do,” said Tiafoe. “Means a lot. I just want to go out there and try to give the crowd what they want, and that’s me getting the win. I really appreciate that. You know, that stuff gets me emotional, for sure. Seeing people like screaming your name, just loving what you’re doing. That’s awesome. That’s what it’s all about.”
But it’s not just about winning a tennis match. Frances Tiafoe is a man on a mission
“Every time I win, I just want to inspire a bunch of people to just know that you can — I mean, anything is possible. For me to do this and talk about how I feel about being in the US Open from my come-up is crazy. At the end of the day I love that because of Frances Tiafoe there is a lot of people of colour playing tennis. That’s obviously a goal for me. That’s why I’m out here trying pretty hard.” He explained during his press conference.
Tiafoe’s coach Wayne Ferreira, a former No. 6 and quarterfinalist at the US Open in 1992, where he lost to local hero Michael Chang, joked about how much his player loves performing in New York.
“We are trying to put in a request if we can play here every single week for the whole year,” he said after the match.
And about the tactics he added: “Playing against Andrey, he had to be aggressive, had to be even more aggressive. He had to really go after first serve. Andrey, today in particular, he had to attack second serves. It’s a very key strategy.”
Tiafoe indeed was continuously stepping in to hit the ball early with his backhand on Rublev’s soft spot, his second serve, and on any ball landing midcourtish.
In the first set Rublev too stayed as close as possible to the baseline, eager to run around the ball and hammer forehands, with the ball still on the rise.
Neither player was threatened on serve until Rublev, struggling with his ball toss in the eleventh game ended up saving a break point with a brave backhand volley.
Rublev in turn rose to break point in the next game, which meant break point and set point. Tiafoe staved off danger with excellent serving and the tiebreak came as the fairest conclusion for a neck to neck set.
Tiafoe was much more daring in the tiebreak, which he took 7-3, sealing it with an ace.
According to the scoreboard, the pattern of the second set resembled the first. Yet, Rublev had retreated, and was forgetting to attack on Tiafoe’s second serves, often rather meek, under 80mph. He kept relying on his opponent’s errors, rather than on his own initiative.
This attitude eventually backfired, and when the clock once more chimed tiebreak time, Tiafoe’s dominance became incontrovertible. Ever aggressive with his backhand, after gaining a second minibreak with a glorious drop volley, he rushed off to a 7 0 knockout.
In the third game of the third set the American leaped on a second service of Rublev that was plodding at 76mph and soared to 15 -40. He failed to convert. But break was just deferred.
Serving at 3 all, Rublev netted a forehand and conceded another break point. Tiafoe was quick to move forward and although he didn’t come up with the best of volleys, Rublev wasn’t able to land a passing shot.
Rublev still had a last chance to crawl back into the match when Tiafoe served poorly and faced two break points. On the first Rublev mishit the return, then Tiafoe saved the second with a drop volley, one of the many he had crafted during the match and went on to hold. It was the final blow. Rublev held his own service, but could only be a motionless spectator when Tiafoe served the match out to love, stamping his victory with a final ace down the T.
Ferreira agrees that Tiafoe’s success could have an impact far beyond tennis.
“I think it’s a great message for anybody really that you can end up achieving greatness from where you are coming. Frances has been lucky in some ways of having great help from people along the way, he says . But, you know, yeah, it’s a great story. Hopefully there will be a movie about it one day. But he has to win the Grand Slam first. You only get movies if you do well.” He said.
“But his story is very unique, and it’s a great story. He’s very humbled, very great heart and kind. He’s truly special. If he can win this tournament, he can be an inspiration for a lot of kids.”
