What a revival! ‘Big Foe‘ has now reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final. He beat Holger Rune in a thrilling SF clash by 4-6,6-1,7-6(4) to book his place in the finals of the Cincinnati Masters. Frances Tiafoe will now face the world number one, Jannik Sinner in the grand finale on Monday. Now we all know that Sinner was limping a bit in the previous match, so we can’t say if he’s fully fit ahead of the finals. However, what are Tiafoe’s thoughts on facing the Italian superstar in the 2024 Cincinnati Masters final?

Tiafoe has played against Sinner four times so far in his career, and guess what? Sinner currently leads the H2H scoreline by a 3-1 margin. The 23-year-old Italian tennis star has already won four titles this season. Perhaps these are some of the reasons why Tiafoe recently hat-tipped Sinner ahead of this match. However, he didn’t forget to remind all of his fans that he was going to give his all to win this match. Sinner has been plagued with physical concerns lately. Perhaps this is the right time for Tiafoe to shine in front of his home crowd.

Shortly after finishing the match against Rune, he came up for an on-court interview. During the interview, Tiafoe was asked to share his thoughts on whether he sees Jannik Sinner as the favorite in the final. In reply, the American said, “Absolutely, for sure he is, right? He’s lost like [five] matches all year? He’s the favorite in every match he plays, no question about it. You’ve got to tip your hat to a guy like him.” Tiafoe hailed Sinner as an “incredible player“, however, he also stated, “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to come here and compete right? Again, it’s one match, it’s the final. Let the best one win.“

Frances Tiafoe was also spotted sending the message quite clearly to the tennis world when he wrote, “Why not me?” on the cameras. It has really been a tough year for this lad. He was looking for this for a long time. It’ll be interesting to see if he can convert this five-match winning streak in Cincinnati to six on Monday. What did Jannik Sinner say after securing his spot in the finals?

Jannik Sinner looks composed ahead of the mega final against Frances Tiafoe

We hear Tiafoe saying that the last set was pretty much “crazy” and things became a bit tougher at the end with breezy conditions. However, he is happy with his overall performance in that match, “I competed really hard and put myself in position.” Sinner, on the other hand, is entering this match after defeating Alexander Zverev by 7-6(9),5-7,7-6(4) in the semis. Although he won the match, seeing him limping at times during the marathon 3 hours 7 minutes clash has now started to raise the eyebrows of his fans.

Reflecting on his thoughts on this SF match, Sinner said, “Sometimes you have to play a bit with the gut feeling. And I think this today was, my strength.” He admitted that there were some ups and downs in the match, but these are things that he feels can happen in such long matches. Sinner isn’t too worried about that, but he’s happy that he could seal this hard-fought victory. He said it means a lot to him and he’s extremely happy with the result.

He further went on to add, “The physical aspect, of course, I have to improve, because if I want to win Grand Slam or a bigger title, I have to be, for sure, more in shape. But I just tried to stay there mentally, which I’m very proud [of], and let’s see what’s coming tomorrow.” Although there is a bit of concern about his injury, both Sinner as well as Tiafoe are pretty much excited about this mega-final. Who do you think will have the last laugh?