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<\/a> – by Adesina O. Koiki\nA Lot of Sports Talk<\/em> editor-in-chief
\nFollow @Koiki_Sport<\/a> Follow @ALOST_Official<\/a><\/p>\n
*Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on the US Open’s official website, usopen.org, published September 7.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n NEW YORK \u2014 Frances Tiafoe knew he was in Sunday\u2019s final. His serve was nigh untouchable for almost the entirety of the first four sets, he dictated a good number of the points from the baseline and, as important as any other factor while playing in New York, the electric crowd inside Arthur Ashe Stadium was decidedly in his corner.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But before Sunday, there was Friday. And on this Friday night, Tiafoe\u2019s mind, and then his body, let him down, and another Championship Sunday agonizingly eluded the American\u2019s fingertips once again.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n For the second time in three years, Tiafoe had a scintillating run to the US Open semifinals stopped one match shy of the final, and it was No. 12 seed Taylor Fritz who outlasted Frances 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the All-American battle to become the one who will vie for the championship and will be the first American man to reach the US Open final since Andy Roddick in 2006.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI thought I was the better player for sure tonight,\u201d Tiafoe said toward the beginning of his post-match press conference.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Two years ago, Tiafoe was also one set away from the US Open final, winning the fourth set before losing in the fifth to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz. But unlike 2022, Tiafoe was in the ascendancy after three sets, up two-sets-to-one and just two games from victory at 4-4 in the fourth. Then the proverbial wheels fell off.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt’s tough. It’s really, really tough. Really, really tough to swallow,\u201d Tiafoe said. \u201cThis one’s gonna hurt really, really bad.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n It was during that fourth set where Tiafoe\u2019s mind started to wander from the task at hand tonight to what Sunday would look like with him featuring alongside Jannik Sinner \u2014 and with good reason. From the start of the third set until his last service game of the fourth, Tiafoe won 80 percent of his service points (36-of-45) and did not face one break point during that stretch.<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n \u201cEarly days in the fourth,\u201d Tiafoe said when asked the point in the match when he started thinking about the final. \u201cI mean, I got good looks, returning well, holding easy early in the fourth. Here we go, two sets to one up, changing. Oh, s\u2014, come out strong, let’s get this fourth done, gonna be in the final. That’s normal thinking, for sure.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut in the past matches before, I was only thinking about what it takes to win rather than think about what’s potentially ahead.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But the last service game in the fourth was when dreams of being easy like Sunday morning turned into Friday the 13th. Tiafoe, down 4-5, had two game points at 40-15 before throwing in back-to-back double faults. Two points later, Tiafoe played a tired-looking drop shot that hit the net and gave Fritz the fourth set, and Frances admitted that he felt his body cramp up during those two double faults.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn the fourth, I don’t know, just had some in-and-out cramps. I just felt like my body just kind of shut down on me,\u201d Tiafoe said, later adding, \u201cI kind of felt there out of nowhere, just cramps out of nowhere. I felt fine. It wasn’t even really warm or humid tonight.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The changeover should have served as a reset to start the final set, but turned into a race against the clock to be healthy enough to give one last championship push a realistic chance \u2014 one that never materialized as Fritz only needed 27 minutes to wrap up the lopsided fifth set.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI tried a bunch of different things. Had a bunch of pickle juice, I was gargling and spitting it out,\u201d Tiafoe said about the changeover in between the fourth and fifth set. \u201cI was eating, doing kind of everything I could. Obviously just trying to give it one last shot, right? It was the fifth set of a semis of a slam, try to give it everything you got. Sometimes it’s not meant to be.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The struggles that Tiafoe had for most of the 2024 quickly moved to the backburner during his successful summer, which saw him make the final of Cincinnati, where he lost to Sinner, before another successful time at the US Open. His partnership with new coach David Witt clearly has put Tiafoe in as good of head space as he\u2019s been since that run to the semifinals two years ago.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n It ended up being his mind, ultimately, that also betrayed him and left him wondering what could have been.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201c[Tonight] probably had a lot to do with nerves,\u201d Tiafoe said. \u201cI wasn’t tired at all. Just, to get into the final, probably the closest I was, obviously, when I played Alcaraz. \u2026 Here, I was really in a position to win, to see ahead, was almost able to be in that position. I have been feeling unbelievable physically. But also, I mean, it could be a testament to how many matches I’ve played in the short time and I haven’t played that many matches all year like that.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n What also may come from the disappointing result in New York is a newfound resolve to carry the momentum into the end of the season and beyond, something that Frances has struggled to do over the past couple of seasons when the tour leaves the United States.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cObviously this is gonna hurt and stuff. I’m gonna turn the page, I’m going to try to end the year strong,\u201d Tiafoe said. \u201cI’m going to go to Asia, do the whole thing, do it the right way and not half-ass it. I’m going to go to the Laver Cup and compete.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI’m going to let this sting, but I’m gonna learn from this. You know, I’m gonna work really hard. I’m going to be in these positions again, for sure. Just hoping for a different outcome.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Follow @Koiki_Sport<\/a> Follow @ALOST_Official<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" – by Adesina O. Koiki A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official *Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on the US Open’s official website, usopen.org, published September 7. NEW YORK \u2014 Frances Tiafoe knew he was in Sunday\u2019s final. His serve was nigh untouchable for almost the entirety of the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[5919,125],"class_list":["post-94865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis","tag-2024-us-open","tag-frances-tiafoe"],"yoast_head":"\n