Comment NEW YORK — Frances Tiafoe harnesses crowd energy the way other players rely on protein bars. Tiafoe, the son of Sierra Leonean immigrants who learned to play at College Park’s Junior Tennis Champions Center, is one of the game’s best young showmen. He has the talent and charisma to whip the crowd into a frenzy, the athleticism and the shot to draw oohs and aahs. His performances in front of raucous US Open crowds can look more like wrestling matches than tennis matches. But on Monday, with a smart 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Rafael Nadal, he showed tactical discipline in seeing off the 22-time Grand Slam champion. He has reached his first US Open quarter-final – and the second major quarter-final of his career – thanks to a master class in energy management and seizing opportunities when they come. When he clinched it on an errant backhand from Nadal, he clutched his racket toward his chair and put his arms around his head. Those in his players’ box, including his father, who worked as a maintenance manager at JTCC, his mother and his favorite NBA player, the Wizards’ Bradley Beal, rose with their hands in the air. “I felt like the world stopped,” said Tiafoe, who received a shout-out on Twitter from LeBron James. “I couldn’t hear anything for a minute. Even if I shake his hand, I don’t even know what I said to him. It was such a blur.” Men’s tennis now has the most open Grand Slam draw since Roger Federer’s reign began in 2003. If 33-year-old Marin Cilic beats 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz on Monday night, he will be the only quarter-finalist to win a major title (US Open, 2014) and the only one older than 28. Tiafoe’s victory denied Nadal the chance to extend his lead over Novak Djokovic (21) and Federer (20) in Grand Slam wins. He was the first man to beat Nadal in a major year this year, with the Spaniard having won the Australian Open and the French Open. (Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon before a semifinal match with Nick Kyrgios due to an abdominal injury.) Nadal, who won the US Open the last time he contested it in 2019, arrived at Flushing Meadows having played two matches in the previous 50 days. He had trained with a high level of intensity before the tournament, but was unable to serve with the same ferocity because scar tissue in his abdomen restricted his movement. Nadal’s lack of preparation showed on Monday. He had nine double faults to nine aces, while Tiafoe crushed 18 aces to four double faults. However, even in less than ideal conditions, the 36-year-old has powered through three opponents this tournament, including two ATP Tour veterans. Tiafoe, 24, offered much more of a physical challenge. Tiafoe is one of the fastest players on tour and has devoted much of his time since the start of the pandemic to getting better. His physical improvement has led to a steady rise through the rankings, where he reached a career high of No. 24 last month (he’s currently No. 26). But opponents must have more than Olympiakos’ fitness to beat Nadal. They must outsmart the most relentless athlete in tennis. They have to be brave enough to make Nadal pay when he is performing below average and they have to jump at opportunities when they come. Tiafoe checked every box, keeping pace with Nadal in parts, not wasting a single ounce of energy with the usual celebrations or crowd participation. He remained completely focused for 3 hours and 34 minutes. “I couldn’t maintain a high level of tennis for a long time, I wasn’t quick enough in my movements and he was able to take the ball too many times too early,” Nadal said. “So I couldn’t push him away. Tennis is a positional sport a lot of times, isn’t it? If not, you must be very, very fast and very young. And I’m not in this moment anymore.” After exchanging the first two sets, Tiafoe broke Nadal to take a 4-3 lead in the third, then immediately left in his chair, staring straight ahead and letting the crowd applaud him – one of his first public games all the day. He won the set with two shots down the line to give himself double set point, then closed with an ace and two conservative punches. “The biggest thing with stuff like that is when I was playing him before, I was breaking so early in every set,” Tiafoe said. “I was like, if I can just hold serve, 1-all, 2-all, 3-all. Then you start to feel good, then you just play. You’re in the match.” In typical Nadal fashion, the Spaniard raced to a 3-1 lead in the fourth set in an attempt to halt Tiafoe’s momentum. But in the next game, Nadal made two double faults and Tiafoe didn’t let the opportunity slip through his fingers. He broke Nadal and then came back from 15-40 down to level the match at 3-3 even from 15-40 down. He made three straight games after that. “For a while there, I was like, hey. You see all these young guys taking on Rafa, Fed, Novak. Will I ever be able to say I defeated one of them? Today I was like, no, I’m going to do this,” Tiafoe said. “Now it’s something to say to the children, to the grandchildren, ‘Yes, I beat Rafa.’ I hope I never play him again. But I hope to finish with a win.” The win made Tiafoe the second American on Monday to reach the US Open quarterfinals. On the women’s side, eighth seed Jessica Pegula coolly dismissed two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-2 to reach her third major quarter-final of the year. Pegula, whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, provided some of the suspense that was present in the Tiafoe-Nadal matchup. Drama is not her style. In an era of women’s tennis defined by constant upheaval, Pegula has been a constant. Plagued by injuries early in her career, Pegula came into her own relatively late in life by winning her first WTA title at the Citi Open in Washington in 2019. She rose from 76th in the world at the end of that year to a career-high 7th this year the following season she works with David Witt, Venus Williams’ former coach, and devotes more time to the professional side of professional tennis: eating right, preparing thoroughly and taking care of her body. Her tennis flourished. In singles, he has reached the quarterfinals at three majors this year to build a 23-7 Grand Slam record since the start of 2021. Pegula will face her steepest challenge yet when she plays world No. 1 Iga Swiatek on Wednesday. The match will likely take place at Arthur Ashe Stadium – where upsets seem to be in the air this year.
