“I came out not giving Rafa all the respect!” Frances Tiafoe makes an astounding claim about his mindset while facing Rafael Nadal
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Frances Tiafoe
24-year-old American Frances Tiafoe shocked a pack Arthur Ashe crowd on Monday by stunning reigning champion Rafael Nadal in the Round of 16 of the 2022 US Open. Tiafoe played some of his best tennis to win the match in four sets 6-4,4-6,6-4,6-3 to register the biggest win of his career and make it to the quarterfinal of a major for the second time.
Tiafoe made it to the Round of 16 at the last two editions of the US Open but always faltered to a higher-ranked player. This time, he not only entered his maiden quarterfinal at Flushing Meadows but also defeated one of the tournament favorites- Rafa Nadal to do so.
Naturally, he was very excited by his win and after the match, revealed his mindset in preparing for a challenge as big as Nadal. He shockingly revealed that he came out with a mindset to give Nadal no respect and was confident he can beat the 22-time grand slam champion. He also shared how in the end, he was lucky enough to get the break because his legs started to give up.
“I came out not giving Rafa all the respect and came out to win a tennis match in front of you guys,” Tiafoe spoke to James Blake after the match. “At 4-3 when I went up 40-0 my legs were like cement, I was like, just get out of this game. Just get out of this game and pray to God you don’t have to serve for it. But yeah, I was lucky enough to get out of that game. I played great tennis today.”
Frances Tiafoe looks forward to making it to his maiden major semifinal
Frances Tiafoe, who has just lost one set in the first four matches last week, will now face 9th seed Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinal on Wednesday. While Rublev may have the slightest edge, Tiafoe will fancy his chances to make it to the last 4, especially after he knocked Nadal out of the tournament. Given the uncertainty in the draw, Tiafoe has a very good chance to make his US Open run the biggest American story in tennis all year.
Also Read: US Open 2022: Nick Kyrgios vs Karen Khachanov Live Stream, Match Timings, Prediction and Preview
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Lakshya Chopra
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