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‘He’s Hit a Bit of Buffer’ – Alarming Signs for Frances Tiafoe as Tennis Bigwigs Raise Valid Concern Over Drastic Slump

Published 02/16/2024, 5:32 AM EST

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via Reuters

Frances Tiafoe managed to find better results in the 2023 season than his prior seasons. However, the year ended with him parting ways with his coach, Wayne Ferreira after more than three years. The news unsettled many tennis bigwigs and was followed by lackluster performances from Tiafoe.

Speaking on a podcast, two American tennis experts shared their thoughts about the difficulties Tiafoe will face as he does not have his old coach on his side anymore and will now have to follow the guidance of another coach.

The absence of Wayne Ferreira “isn’t a great thing” for Frances Tiafoe

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Tiafoe began his 2024 stint in the Hong Kong Open and found himself exiting in round 2. After flying to Melbourne, the American player would once again have to relent in round 2 of the first slam of the year. He followed it with a stint in the Dallas Open and again lost in the second round. Speaking in the Tennis Channel Inside-in podcast, Mark Petchey and Mitch Michaels talked about the worries of his career going forward.

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Petchey said, “Not having Wayne on his back, going through a tough period, I think isn’t a great thing for him, I think he will find it a little bit tricky with a new coach, that that that joining of a new coach usually comes at a fairly big inflection point in a player’s career. And at the moment, they’re struggling to find engage the right kind of solution to the problems now he’s hit a bit of a buffer here. And I’m not sure how quickly we’ll get out of it.”

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Michaels said that there is pressure in tennis that many players don’t realize until they have titles and ranking points to defend. Now that Tiafoe is in that position, he will have another challenge on his hands.

So he’s going to feel that Indian Wells, the clay court event to a lesser extent, then grass when you want his grass court title, but that’s the other pressure to this is that he’s got some big tournaments, he has to have to maintain his ranking.

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With Ferreira, Tiafoe managed to enter the top 10 and win his second and third ATP 250 titles. Now that he has split from his coach, the future is uncertain for him until he finds a new solid coach.

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Written by:

Ripunjay Gaba

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One take at a time

Ripunjay Gaba, a tennis enthusiast-turned-journalist at EssentiallySports, found his way from freelance sports journalism to the publishing house in ES. Here, his writing canvas encompasses the game specifics while finding poetic resonance in covering major sporting events. Ripunjay, a perpetual upgrader, uses avid reading to bring varied flavor to his Tennis reporting.
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Edited by:

Ananya Giri