Frances Tiafoe has quickly become one of the most popular faces at the US Open this year. He is currently ranked at no. 2 in the US and 10 in the ATP. This shows that, given the right opportunity, a person can do wonders, and that is what Tiafoe believes as well. And since he had the opportunity to do great things in tennis, he surely wants other people to have it too.

Now that he has become the third-ever black tennis player to break into the top 10 in men’s singles, his only aim is to give more people the same opportunities that he had. His ultimate aim is to make tennis more ‘accessible’ globally.

Frances Tiafoe shares how he wants to make the sport open to everyone

During an episode of the PBS News Hour, Amna Nawaz caught Tiafoe in a series of questions, one of them being about the opportunities that young players may or may not have to reach the level he has. Since he himself lacked resources as a child to tennis, this issue certainly is important to him.

To which Frances replied, “I mean, I think opportunity is everything. I’m a product of it. And how do we make the game more accessible? Obviously, the USTA is doing a great job, with the NJTLs, and making them more accessible across the country. But then you also need to have the right coach and a certain amount of passion for the game. You know, how do you have these kids wanting to continue the game at a high level?“

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Frances was able to get access to tennis as his father worked at the construction site of the Junior Tennis Champions Center. Otherwise, his humble background would have denied him the right resources. And of course since he knows how it feels, he does not want talented kids to be left behind because of lack of resources or accessibility.

Besides talking about the accessibility of tennis, Tiafoe also shared the fair share of struggles that players have to face as they pursue the sport with everything they’ve got.

Tiafoe opens up about the mental fortitude associated with tennis

In the same episode, Frances also shared how the sport is not all fun and has a tough part associated with it as well. He said that everything a person does in tennis; they have to own it, be it a loss or a win. They have to spend a lot of time traveling, which means they have to stay away from their families.

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Also, since everyone watches the sport eagerly, there are a lot of expectations from the fans. Subsequently, when they don’t get through, the players get a lot of hate messages. Frances has had his own share of struggles, but it is hard work that helped him get through it and rise to the top 10.

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