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“That Would Be Cool”: Frances Tiafoe Hopes to Stop Novak Djokovic at the Tokyo Olympics 2020

Published 07/24/2021, 3:53 PM EDT

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Battling against the World No.1 Novak Djokovic is the greatest challenge in the sport. While most players would want to avoid facing Djokovic, the fifth-ranked American, Frances Tiafoe, doesn’t mind taking on the Serbian machine at the Tokyo Olympics.

Tiafoe begins his Olympic Games campaign against the 23-year-old, Soonwoo Kwon, in the first round. On the other side of the draw, Djokovic has comfortable cruised through the opening round by defeating Hugo Dellien in straight sets.

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Frances Tiafoe doesn’t mind facing Novak Djokovic

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In a recent interview, Tiafoe lauded Djokovic’s stellar season, who has won three consecutive Grand Slam titles, and hopes he can stop the 20-time Grand Slam champion from winning an Olympic gold medal.

“He’s trying to achieve something extremely crazy this year, and obviously I hope I can be a guy to stop him. I love seeing greatness and if I can stop it, that would be cool. We’ll see. I don’t mind the matchup against him,” said Tiafoe.

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Interestingly, Tiafoe can only face Djokovic in the final since he’s present in the other half of the draw. However, the 23-year-old has a tough route to the final and would most likely face, Stefanos Tsitsipas, in the second round of the Olympics.

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Referring to himself as the dark horse, Tiafoe believes he has a greater chance of toppling Djokovic in a best-of-3 set match and feels he can change the course of the encounter at any moment.

“I like playing Novak in two-out-of-three than three-out-of-five. I count myself as a dark horse at any particular moment. It’s a completely different format, it’s a team event, everyone is super nervous,” said Tiafoe.

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So far, the duo has faced only once in their careers, a match which happened in the second round at this years’ Australian Open. Although Tiafoe took a set off Djokovic, the latter won the battle in thrilling four sets.

Owing to his extraordinary season, Djokovic is the favorite to claim the gold medal at the Olympics, a tournament he’s achieved little success in his otherwise illustrious career.

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Written by:

Kshitij Tayal

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Kshitij Tayal is a tennis author at EssentiallySports. Having played district-level tennis competitions, Kshitij is also a tenured journalist of the sport with over four years of experience. At EssentiallySports, he pens down some thought-provoking pieces on players and tournaments across the ATP and WTA.
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