Frances Tiafoe says he got a boost from speaking with Serena Williams after moving into the last eight of the US Open. 

Tiafoe, who is seeded 20th in the men’s draw, defeated Australia’s Alexi Popyrin 6-4 7-6(3) 2-6 6-3. He is the first American man since Andy Roddick to the quarter-finals of the US Open three years in a row. 

Shortly before his latest victory, Tiafoe was seen on television speaking with 24-time major champion Williams. The former world No.1 has returned to the tournament for the first time since playing her final match in 2022.

“Telling me she’s always following no matter what, telling me it’s so good to see now that I’m done, you’re the guy of colour playing and doing well,” Tiafoe said during his press conference.
“I’m, like, damn. That’s really, really cool that she sees me as that.”

It is not the first time Williams has been speaking with players at the tournament. Another conversation she had was with Iga Swiatek who said she was star-struck. She also gave a prep talk to Grigor Dimitrov before his fourth round win over Andrey Rublev.

“It was really cool to have her want to talk to me before a match and really say she wants me to do this thing and that I’mcapable of doing it,” Tiafoe continued. 
“I don’t think it will hit me like that if anybody else said it to me.”

Tiafoe, who will next play Dimitrov, has reached the quarter-finals of a major event four times in his career.

Popyrin rues missed chance 

Meanwhile, Popyrin has described his exit from the tournament as a ‘lost opportunity.’ The world No.28 stunned a lackluster Novak Djokovic in the previous round and last month claimed his maiden Masters 1000 title in Canada. 

“It definitely does feel like a little opportunity lost,” he told reporters. 
“I think this match it was changed by I think one, two, or three points. I think he won three more points than I did allmatch, and he won three sets. That just shows you how close it was.”

However, the 25-year-old is refusing to be too hard on himself after enjoying a breakthrough summer on the Tour.

“I’m telling everybody now, if you would have told me at the start of the summer I would have been 23 in the world with a Masters title and second week of a slam for the first time, I probably would have taken it considering the position I was in,” he commented.
“If I hadn’t won a match in Montreal or (Cincinnati), I probably would have dropped to outside 90 in the world. So considering all that, I think it was a very successful summer.”