Frances Tiafoe has admitted that he is tired ahead of his Stockholm quarter-final with Emil Ruusuvuori.
The American reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open and has had another great season in 2022.
Tiafoe is currently ranked at 17 in the world and is looking to push into the top 16 in the world ahead of the Australian Open in January.
In order to do that Tiafoe has to produce some big results towards the end of the season, starting this week in Stockholm.
However the American had to battle hard to reach the last eight in Sweden after edging past Elias Ymer 3-6 7-6(4) 7-6(2) in two hours and 40 minutes.
It was a hard match and Tiafoe backed up those claims in his post-match interview, “It was an unbelievable effort, a big growth win for me, to come back and win that,” Tiafoe told the ATP website.
“He got a little nervous there and I started upping my level. He still played well in the third. He served well, but I was able to get it done. Elias is a hell of a player.”
Expanding on Ymer’s performance, the American would like to see the Swede believe in himself more and thinks the world number 129 is destined for big things, “He just needs to believe in himself,” Tiafoe explained.
“I think he strikes the ball just as good as anyone. He moves so fast. He’s just got to believe in himself. Today, I think the only reason I won is because he just didn’t believe it in the end. If he believes in himself he can be really good.”
Tomorrow will be Tiafoe’s 53rd match of the season and the American admits that it’s been a long year and he is feeling the tiredness, “I definitely didn’t deserve to win today,” Tiafoe admitted.
“Elias was playing really well. In the beginning I was really flat, really negative. It’s been a long year and it’s tough, I’m pretty tired.”
Tiafoe will play Emil Ruusuvuori in his quarter-final on Friday evening, who will play his 58th match of the season.
The other quarter-final in their half of the draw will see Mikael Ymer take on top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
