I Put Myself In Hot Seat With Clown Comment

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday August 30, 2024

New York—Frances Tiafoe just hasn’t found his winning tennis again – he’s found the love.

After his five-set win over Ben Shelton on Day 5 at the Open, Tiafoe opened up about some of the struggles he has had of late, and talked about how he has overcome them simply be getting back to who he is.

“I just got the joy again, bro,” he told reporters. “I just love — you start looking outwards and being like, man, I’m blessed to do what I do.”

Tiafoe says his five-set win over Matteo Arnaldi at Wimbledon in the first round sparked a surge. It led to him getting to play against Carlos Alcaraz on Centre Court in the third round. Even though he didn’t win, the experience was key to kick-starting his turnaround.

“I really think if I lost first round at Wimbledon when I was down two sets to love, I probably wouldn’t even be in this position,” he said. “Playing Wimbledon, getting a standing O, I’d never been on Centre Court, never sat on Centre Court, nothing.”

“So that joy came again. I wanted to practice. I wanted to be me. I was ready to play.”

Tiafoe also referenced his infamous clown comment, and hinted that it might have provided some extra motivation.

At Wimbledon, he said: “Literally this week last year I was 10 in the world and now I’m barely seeded here, losing to clowns, I mean… I hate to say it, but I’m just gonna be honest with you guys.”

On Friday in New York he said that he recognized that he needed to own up to the words and play better tennis.

“Obviously I put myself in a hot seat making that clown comment,” he said. “So you have to back yourself a little bit when you make comments like that.”

Tiafoe, who hired David Witt, the former coach of Venus Williams and Jessica Pegula, before Wimbledon, also credits extra focus on his return game with his recent uptick in form.

“I think I returned exceptional today. I thought I made a lot of returns, made him play a lot,” he said. “I think that’s something I have really improved on since I’ve hired David Witt, focusing a lot on that.

“Before we started [David] was, like, ‘look, you play your return games way too relaxed. We need to adjust that.’ I’m returning much better, making returns, I’m making guys play.”