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Erste Bank Open 2021: Frances Tiafoe - Good Show? Or too much show?

Frances Tiafoe's semi-final success at the Erste Bank Open 2021 subsequently led to resentment. With the loser Jannik Sinner . But also with journalists from his homeland.

by Jens Huiber
last edit: Oct 30, 2021, 09:59 pm

Frances Tiafoe picked up the audience in the town hall - and applauded
© GEPA Pictures
Frances Tiafoe picked up the audience in the town hall - and applauded

“How dirty was your win today?” Yes, “ugly” could certainly also be translated as “ugly”, but the bottom line is that Frances Tiafoe from an Italian journalist after his semi-final victory against Jannik Sinner quite clearly in the corner of Brad Gilbert was pushed. We remember: Gilbert reached deep into his bag of tricks in his 1986 final triumph against Karel Novacek in the Wiener Stadthalle gang. And from the middle of the second movement marks the dying swan. Novacek was so upset that he lost the match and the winner's cup.

Years later, the fact that Gilbert packed his ideas of psychological warfare on the tennis court into a (very entertaining and, by the way, instructive) book entitled "Winning Ugly" still suggested that nothing in that endgame was left to chance was left.

Tiafoe in the footsteps of Brad Gilbert?

But Frances Tiafoe? For real? The American was physically exhausted in the middle of the second set, was behind with a break, and after a long rally had to support himself first with a spectator and then with a folder in the hall. But does that guarantee a separate chapter in Brad Gilbert's next book? Jannik Sinner said after the match that there was "too much show" by Tiafoe. Incidentally, the South Tyrolean explained this very calmly, as usual, not forgetting to note that he got along very well with Frances Tiafoe.

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But if the fans are carried away at a tennis match as they were on Saturday afternoon - can there be “too much show” at all? The fact is, if there wasn't so much interest in tennis around the world, the tournaments and the players in particular would suffer as a result. For tennis in general, the week in Vienna was a gift - Frances Tiafoe not only caused great moments with his win against Sinner, but also in the round of 16 with the comeback against Stefanos Tsitsipas after 3-0 deficit in the third set.

Zverev still too good for Alcaraz

As did Carlos Alcaraz and Matteo Berrettini in the quarter-finals on Friday. These matches showed tennis fans in blooming colors that life will continue after the era of Djokovic (not over yet), Nadal (almost over) and Federer (unfortunately, almost certainly over). And how. After the games on Friday, it was said, also in Brad Gilbert's Twitter timeline, that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the future of tennis. Possible, even likely. Alexander Zverev is showing in Vienna this week that he is still half a step above the two youngsters, more like a whole.

After all, Frances Tiafoe conceded so much to the Italian journalist. He threw the “Kitchen Sink” in the direction of Sinner. How dirty this was, he left open.

Here the single tableau in Vienna

wienmap

by Jens Huiber

Sunday
Oct 31, 2021, 09:55 am
last edit: Oct 30, 2021, 09:59 pm