What did we learn about Frances Tiafoe at the Delray Beach Open? First and foremost, he knows how to fall down.
Tiafoe’s first crash landing, which came in his quarterfinal against Hyeon Chung, created one of the viral moments of the tennis week. Flabbergasted by a (bad) call from chair umpire Fergus Murphy, Tiafoe expressed his exasperation by collapsing to the court like someone who had just had a heart attack. Eventually, he got back up and, after a few further remarks to Murphy, let the argument drop and went on to win the match. What else did he need to say after that theatrical pratfall?
Tiafoe’s second tumble in Delray was similarly dramatic, but the reasons for it were much happier. After the last point of his final against Peter Gojowczyk was over, and victory was secure, Tiafoe collapsed again and spent a few seconds lying flat on his back. The match wasn’t close, but his stunned reaction was understandable. The 20-year-old Maryland native, who had a career record of 11-32 coming to Delray and had never reached a semifinal before, had just won his first ATP tournament.
“I was not expecting this this week,” Tiafoe told atpworldtour.com. “I was just going to go and play Delpo this week....It’s obviously a dream to win your first title. Now I got that off my back, so it feels pretty good, so early in my career.”
After a poor showing at the Australian Open, and an ugly dustup between Ryan Harrison and Donald Young at the tournament in New York, U.S. tennis was looking for a feel-good story, and few could have fit the bill like a title run from Tiafoe. He plays an exciting and explosive game. He has a backstory—his parents left a civil war behind in Sierra Leone to come to the U.S.—that has been deservedly much-discussed. Best of all, Tiafoe’s a likable, mature, unwhiny guy who knows how to put on a show.
And Delray was his show. After breaking serve, he would sprint to his changeover chair, the way a young Andy Roddick once did. After clinching his wins, he would point his index finger downward, as if to say, “This is my court.” And after Murphy’s obvious bad call, Tiafoe didn’t continue to moan about it, or let it bother him for the rest of the set, the way so many other young players would have.