Hong Kong Open: US tennis star Tiafoe focused on ‘having fun’, confident big 2024 lies ahead
- Frances Tiafoe starts his season in Hong Kong for first time and says he’ll be back after ‘unbelievable’ week
- The American changed coaches in the off-season and vows to be more aggressive in his approach on court
Frances Tiafoe said he would almost certainly return to the Hong Kong Tennis Open next year, after relishing his part in the ATP Tour’s return to the city this week.
The American, who became the latest victim of emerging Chinese star Shang Juncheng in Friday’s quarter-finals, has resolved to “have fun and compete at the highest level” in 2024.
He finished last season in a trough, losing a US Open quarter-final to compatriot Ben Shelton in September, and winning only three more matches in the calendar year.
Tiafoe ended his relationship with coach Wayne Ferreira in the off-season, and has teamed up with Argentine Diego Moyano for the new campaign.
Around the changes, he “partied hard and had a good rest”.
“I plateaued, big time, at the end of last year, and a lot of people are interested to see how I go this year,” Tiafoe told the Post. “I am trying to not get so wound up by the end result. Whether or not you do monumental things, the world will stay the same.
“I have more to do, and more to achieve. I was very results-driven last year. When I did not get the results I wanted, I folded it in, I struggled, big time.
“I want to enjoy it and have fun, and still compete at a high level.”
Tiafoe started the past two years in Australia, in the lead up to the season’s opening grand slam in Melbourne.
He decided to “do something different”, in keeping with his overarching pursuit of change, by coming to Hong Kong for the first staging of this tournament since 2002. He won his opening match against Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia, before running into an inspired Shang.
“It was a no-brainer, and they [fans and organisers] have treated me unbelievably,” Tiafoe said. “If you ask me right now, I will probably come back next year.”
Tiafoe climbed to 10th in the world in the middle of last year, after winning ATP 250 tournaments in Houston and Stuttgart.
He was a US Open semi-finalist in 2022, when he electrified Flushing Meadows in securing the biggest victory of his career over Rafael Nadal in the round of 16, and reached the last eight of the 2019 Australian Open.
Tiafoe’s big personality and wide smile have earned him a large global fan base. And he wants to channel those attributes into winning performances, as he mentally reconnects with the sport he began playing as a small child because dad Frances Sr, an immigrant from Sierra Leone, was working as a janitor at the Junior Tennis Champions Centre in Maryland.
“I just want to win, for myself, and for all the people of colour, people who feel they did not have a chance to do anything, so they can look to me for inspiration,” Tiafoe said.
“I play for my family, for so many different reasons. I love what I do, I love the game of tennis. It has changed my life. I do not take myself too seriously. I am just a tennis player, and what is life without having fun?”
New man in the corner Moyano previously worked with Tiafoe as a United States Tennis Association coach.
“We are instilling little things, brick by brick,” Tiafoe said. “Diego said to express my game, and not worry about anything else.
“I want to be much more aggressive, and tough. Last year, at one point, I was counter-punching, not being so aggressive. It will all come together, and I am confident about what is to come.”
