"This one hurts a little more": Frances Tiafoe falls just short of reversing history with Carlos Alcaraz

WIMBLEDON—This Friday afternoon, for the better part of 3.9 sets, Frances Tiafoe had turned Wimbledon’s Centre Court into a highly-captivating form of tennis theatre. In a third-round match, versus defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, Tiafoe had taken a two sets to one lead. Movement, power, touch, accuracy, angles, imagination—categories usually heavily dominated by Alcaraz—were all part of the Tiafoe palette as he’d gone ahead, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

“It was huge,” said Tiafoe. “Me coming after one of the best players in the world and putting my game on display at the highest level, a court I've never played on. So that definitely sparked a huge light under me.”

As late as 4-all in the fourth set, Tiafoe had led love-30 on the Alcaraz serve. But strong serving from his opponent, including a 129 m.p.h. body serve at 30-all and a 130 m.p.h. ace at 40-30, allowed him to stay on serve.

“It was really important to stay there in the fourth set, for example, just to keep fighting,” said Alcaraz, “to keep trying to play better in the fourth set just to give myself the chance to be alive in the match.”

There followed a fourth-set tiebreaker. But from the moment it began, Alcaraz took control. He won the first five points and then built off that momentum to run away with the fifth set from an increasingly leg-weary Tiafoe. “I was a little tentative in the ‘breaker,” said Tiafoe. “I wish I was swinging out on my shots a little more from the ground on the breaker. I thought I let him dictate a little too much.” In the end, Alcaraz had taken 3 hours and 50 minutes to win, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2.

For much of this match, Alcaraz’s experience took a back seat to Tiafoe’s moxie. In the first set, Alcaraz served at 4-2, 30-love. Tiafoe won the next point with a sublime lob and soon got back on serve. With Alcaraz serving at 5-all, 30-love, Tiafoe played four excellent points—one won when he charged the net off a backhand return, another with a crisp volley, two more with stellar depth. Serving for the set at 6-5, Tiafoe played more inspired tennis, holding at love behind two serves that exceeded 130 m.p.h.

I think this one hurts a little more than the Open. I feel like the Open I was kind of hanging on for dear life. This one was more one I thought was kind of on my racquet at times. —Frances Tiafoe

Even when Alcaraz levelled the match by snapping up the second set, the Spaniard was unable to generate significant momentum. Again and again, Tiafoe covered the court magnificently to create a spectrum of opportunities—crisp down-the-line backhands, angled forehands and, quite often, deft volleys. Through the first four sets, Tiafoe won 31 of 43 points at the net.

“He didn't let me to get into the match,” said Alcaraz. “Yeah, I broke his serves twice in the second set, but after that I had not too much opportunities to break his serves. It was difficult sometimes to play with it.”

But as we’ve learned in recent years, Alcaraz is not a man to be outdone, be it in either the creativity or tenacity department. As he took in those many blows from Tiafoe, Alcaraz maintained his trademark tranquility and engagement. Perhaps the single most important point of the match came in the fourth set tiebreaker. Tiafoe served at 0-1, lunged to strike a high forehand volley deep into Alcaraz’s backhand corner, only to find his body weight upon finishing the shot take him to the right of the alley—and in the process, open up the court for Alcaraz to roll a crosscourt backhand passing shot for a winner. On the next point, Alcaraz laced an inside-out forehand winner.

In the fifth set, Tiafoe was spent. Having struck 36 winners in the first four sets, in the fifth he only hit three. “I know that the other guy has to play at a really high level of tennis intensity in the five set if he wants to beat me,” said Alcaraz, who upped his career five-set record to 12-1.

The last match between these two had also been an engaging five-setter, Alcaraz winning in the semis of the 2022 US Open. “But I think this one hurts a little more than the Open,” said Tiafoe. “I feel like the Open I was kind of hanging on for dear life. This one was more one I thought was kind of on my racquet at times. But in this situation of everything that happened before, leading in, I think this one I can honestly take confidence from and can't hang my head too low.”

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago at Wimbledon, Tiafoe had also lost in the third round, beaten handily by Grigor Dimitrov. This time he’d gone toe-to-toe with the holder on Centre Court and proven yet again how much he can raise all aspects of his game on a big occasion. Said Tiafoe, “It was huge for me to be in that environment again and play a match of such high quality.”

Last night, Centre Court bid adieu to two-time Wimbledon winner Andy Murray. This evening, it witnessed another Wimbledon champion; in this case, fighting hard to hang on to his crown. Though pushed to the limit, King Carlos continues his reign.