Frances Tiafoe’s rise to prominence in the tennis world is a compelling story of incredible talent, sheer resilience, and a journey of overcoming multiple adversities. Born to immigrant parents from Sierra Leone, he was raised at the Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC), a USTA regional training center in College Park, Maryland, where his father worked as the head of maintenance. Ever since his childhood days, Tiafoe has had the ability to make headlines with his heroics. For example, at the age of 15, he won the 2013 Orange Bowl and became the youngest-ever boys’ singles champion. Two years later, Tiafoe became the youngest American to feature in the main draw of the French Open since Michael Chang (in 1989). In 2023, he became the talk of the town by becoming the first Sierra Leonean-American man to reach the Top 10 at the ATP. Then this year, he joined Tommy Paul to reach the quarterfinal of Roland Garros for the very first time since 1966. What should we call his tennis journey, inspiring or jaw-dropping?

“It’s a movie, man, an absolute movie. I say it all the time,” said the 27-year-old who had to spend days sleeping on the floor and on narrow folding tables in an office at a tennis center in Maryland alongside his twin brother, Franklin. Frances Tiafoe used discarded rackets, and even if the size and weight of them weren’t appropriate for him, he still used to find a way to hit the ball against a wall. From dreaming of becoming a tennis star to becoming a real hope for America in big events, ‘Big Foe’ now gives rise to bigger expectations.

In his childhood days, he always had a few questions that came to his mind very often, “How’s this story going to end? Can you imagine if we do this right? It would be incredible.” Now, since he has become a well-known tennis player, all he now wants is to inspire others with his story. He believes, “You don’t have to be from the upper echelon to be great. If you want something in life, go get it.” In this journey, he also gives a special mention to his dad, who played a crucial role in helping him build his love for the sport at a very early age. 

Who was his biggest inspiration in the sport? “Serena’s arguably the best athlete of all time, so getting to know her was surreal. She was winning grand slams when I was born [Williams won her first slam, the US Open in 1999, when Tiafoe was one]. We played the Hopman Cup this year and laughed about it. She was like: ‘I need to hang this up.’ But she’s still awesome. I hope she keeps playing for a long time. Her story is so much bigger than tennis,” said Tiafoe in a previous interview. His idol, Serena Williams, won 23 Grand Slam titles in her career, but Tiafoe is yet to open his account on that. Although he reached the semifinal of the US Open twice (2022,2024), he failed to deliver when it mattered the most.

With Wimbledon knocking at the door, can he end America’s 22-year-long wait to see an American man lift a Grand Slam title? In October 2024, during an interview with Olympics.com, he said, “I want to be on top of the game. I want to win majors, I want to be in the top three, top five and at that point, why not No. 1? But my real goal is to win a major. Let the rankings fall where they may but I want to be on the top of the game for a while and be in a position where I’m competing for Slams and Masters Series for the next five or six years for sure.”

To be more precise, in March 2025, Frances Tiafoe pinpointed “winning Wimbledon” as his next big goal. At Wimbledon, his best record was reaching the fourth round in 2022. Last year, he was defeated by the eventual champion, Carlos Alcaraz, in a five-set thriller. Although his incredible run at Roland Garros made his fans a bit optimistic about his chances at Wimbledon, with legends like Andy Roddick claiming “Frances should play great on the grass“, his recent early exit from the HSBC Championships has raised a few doubts in the minds of tennis experts. What are they saying, though?

Frances Tiafoe’s poor start at the grass-court swing draws critical comments ahead of Wimbledon

Currently ranked 13th in the world, Frances Tiafoe has a win-loss record of 17-13 this year. His best performance this season, other than the QF run at Roland Garros, was reaching the final at the ATP Houston, where he was defeated by his compatriot Jenson Brooksby by 4-6,2-6. He’s still in search of his first title in 2025, and recently, his shocking defeat to the 35-year-old Brit, Dan Evans, in the R32 of the Queen’s Club Championships drew criticism from the former British tennis player, John Lloyd.

In an interview with the BBC, Lloyd said, “Tiafoe is used to dominating rallies, and he couldn’t. You could see the last two games, Tiafoe had mentally tapped out. He just did not know any way to get through the defence. It was so solid, his movement.” Although there have been a lot of expectations surrounding his chances at Wimbledon this year, another former tennis player, CoCo Vandeweghe, sounded a bit worried for Frances Tiafoe.

She said, “If it was hard to grasp, I think it would be a lot easier. I think Foe (Frances Tiafoe) just needs to really get as much confidence as he can, as many matches as he can. I don’t think to win another title on grass this year. But I think if he gets enough matches, he can make a second week at Wimbledon easily.” Coming back after a long run at the French Open and then switching to grass within a short time is definitely a tough ask, but that’s what separates the ordinary players from the exceptional ones. Without a doubt, Tiafoe is a really special player, but can he come out with a special performance at SW19 this year?