Frances Tiafoe: Vienna, Vienna, only you
Frances Tiafoe plays against Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the Indian Wells ATP Masters 1000 tournament tomorrow. The American will mark the start of his most recent series of successes at a tournament in autumn 2021.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Mar 17, 2023, 02:33 pm
If you can remember and maybe even was there: Frances Tiafoe came to Vienna in autumn 2021 with very few expectations, but was one of the first participants in the Erste Bank Open to train in the then newly erected tent at the Vienna Ice Skating Club. With his coach Wayne Ferreira as trainer, who certainly didn't assume that his protégé would remain in the race for the title in the town hall until Sunday's final.
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Because Tiafoe had to qualify and had massive problems against Lucas Miedler. But took so much momentum into the peloton that he was able to put Diego Schwartzman, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jannik Sinner in their place. And it was only in the final against Alexander Zverev that his Latin was over.
After reaching the semi-finals in Indian Wells - the first in a tournament in the 1000 category - Tiafoe recalled the remarkable days in the Austrian capital. "I beat a lot of quality players this week," Tiafoe said after his convincing win over Cameron Norrie. “Then the year 2022 started with injuries. That was hard. But that week I was like, okay, if I focus properly, I can keep up with these guys."
Tiafoe vs. Medvedev underdogs
One virtue that Frances Tiafoe has helped pave the way for is patience. “I am a man who started out very humble. I got on the scene at 18, in the top 100 at 19. And some people thought that now I'm going to do X, Y or Z, the American hope, blah, blah, blah. It was hard. I don't think I was ready for that."
Meanwhile, Tiafoe has reached the semifinals of a major for the first time at the 2022 US Open, the run at Indian Wells is certainly no coincidence. But the task in the semifinals could hardly be more difficult: it's against Daniil Medvedev. As if that weren't enough, the Russian has won his last 18 matches on the tour. No: In all four previous games against Medvedev, Tiafoe had no chance of winning.
Here the individual tableau in Indian Wells
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