“Yes! It’s Me” Sebastian Baez shares an inspiring message from Francis Tiafoe after his Estoril Open title win
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Sebastian Baez
Sebastian Baez the young Argentine, won his maiden ATP title at the Estoril Open 2022 after defeating the 2018 finalist and world number 29, Francis Tiafoe. He defeated Tiafoe 6-3, 6-2, and won the title in straight sets. This was Baez’s second ATP level final and he was in a scintillating form as he made it count. Baez has had a great week in Cascais as he went on a rampage defeating the previous winners and finalists of the Estoril Open.
Francis Tiafoe on the other hand had a great performance throughout the tour too. It looked like he was always hanging by a thread in the tournament, suffering quite a lot of discomfort at times, but he always managed to come back to win the matches here. In his semifinal match against compatriot Sebastian Korda, he was down 4-6, 2-5 and he still managed to win the match. But he was seemingly walking with some discomfort and with that he was no match for the in-form Baez.
Sebastian Baez gets his answer in Estoril Open
Francis Tiafoe wore a band with “Why not me” written on it and this inspired Baez to write ‘Why not me?’ on the camera after his every win. It was less about the question and more about the reassurance that it could be him who wins it all. Finally, Baez got the answer, and ‘It was him’ and he wrote the same on the lens. Baez gets his first ATP singles title and this makes it a day for the two youngsters as the two 2021 Next Gen Final qualifiers got their first titles today.
Baez was generous towards his opponent as he believed that it would be the same for Tiafoe that it could have been him too and he too deserved it. Tiafoe too showed some extremely fighting tennis the whole week but fell to Baez rather easily. Baez said: “Why not me? And why not you man?”
It was a heartbreak for Tiafoe but a well-deserved win for Baez and Tiafoe too appreciated that about his opponent. He said:“Unbelievable, Sebastian. You deserved it”. “I played some crazy matches. I hope I come back for many years”. Tiafoe and Baez displayed great sportsmanship as they were quite appreciative of each other.
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Prateek Sinha
(365 Articles Published)