US OPEN

August 28, 2026

Frances Tiafoe

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome. Questions.

Q. Nice run in Cincy. Here's a place that you have played some of the great matches of your career, and I wonder if you can reflect on New York and why this place is so special to you.

FRANCES TIAFOE: I have just such fond memories as a kid, seen some incredible matches, so many legends playing at the highest level, night matches on Ashe. I always wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to win some iconic matches like that.

So when I had the chance to do it, it livens me up. I feel good, I want to play good. And of course, you know, the name, the stadium, the name of Arthur Ashe is a huge thing, and I've always wanted to be in the same sentence as that guy.

Yeah, there is a bunch of reasons.

Q. Curious how it's been for you since the Cincinnati final. You pulled out of the mixed. How are you feeling physically here?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I'm all right. I feel pretty good. I'm a vet, as you guys like to say now. It was just a quick turnaround. And obviously had little kinks there in the final of Cincinnati and just wanted to make sure I was fully okay. Just wanted to put me first, that's all it was.

Yeah, it sucked. I wanted to play with Leylah, we're both lululemon, to play Novak and Sabalenka, that would have been fun. Saw Sabalenka's perfume the other day, so that would have been cool. But yeah.

Q. Just to follow up, what exactly precipitated the injury, and what have you been doing for it?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Just playing a lot. Jerked my hip a little bit. But, you know, had a little bit all week, and then hurt that a little bit in the finals.

Look, I didn't play that much since Wimbledon. Was trying to go through the wrist injury and something else comes up, obviously. Unexpected to play the final. I wasn't even really expecting to play Cincinnati. I take that week, and yeah, I'm going to be fine come Monday.

Q. I wanted to get your thoughts on the current state of tennis diversity-wise, whether you're happy with where it's at or the direction it's going in, and particularly at the youth level in terms of cost.

FRANCES TIAFOE: Yeah, well, start from the top of the game, I think it's great. Obviously for the women's game it's been great for a long time. We've had a lot of representation on that side. On the men's game, obviously Felix is foreign, but we have Felix, we have Arthur, who's playing great, myself, Ben. You have a lot of guys going to be in the top 10. There's four guys right there going to be in the top 10 very soon. That's really, really good.

I just played Arthur in the finals of a 1000. That's never happened in tennis. That's a huge thing. So yeah, that's really good.

Then of course obviously day-to-day thing is just continuing in things that I'm doing, USTA is doing great getting underserved community kids to play the game. Obviously, so many things cost, as you said, racquets, strings, coaching, shoes, whatever. That all come with that.

Yeah, it's going the right direction. It's not something that's going to change overnight. Cost is cost, right. It's got to come from somewhere. I like where we're going.

Q. Health-wise, is there anything you've had to do in terms of altering practice, or is there anything you're having to do just in terms of rehab or treatment that you weren't having to do before?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I'm going to be good come Monday. That's all I'm going to say. I'm going to be good come Monday.

Q. I don't know if you saw what Coco's mom posted about tickets...

FRANCES TIAFOE: That was the best thing I've ever seen. Unbelievable. I love everything about it.

Q. You always have a lot of people in the box and you have so many friends.

FRANCES TIAFOE: I was actually having that conversation at lunch yesterday. I might get a screenshot of her post and do that (smiling).

But, I mean, I agree with her. Sometimes it's a lot. I mean, I hate to be a stereotype joke, but yeah, Black people we do good, all of a sudden everybody's cousins and everybody's family, you know what I'm saying? So it gets hard, man. It gets hard. (Laughter.)

Q. Do you have someone on your team who handles that?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Yeah, we'll be all right.

Q. Do you think it's a Black thing?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Oh, don't do that. It was a joke. It was a joke. Let's not even do that. It was a joke (laughter).

Q. But seriously, your head compared with a year ago. Despite the niggles you've had the last month or so, how do you compare, like, where your head space was a year ago coming into this tournament and where it is now?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I'm not the same person, not even close. I wasn't in a good place here last year at all, and post. And we had a conversation, something I really wanted to turn over, I wanted to be a guy who showed up every single week. I won a lot of matches this year, I'm high in the ATP win rate.

I have a lot of big hopes for where I want to be and what I want to achieve this year, and I've been doing it. Could I have done better? Everyone is going to be a tough critic, of course. Yeah, I mean, I know what I can do. I just got to be a pro every day, even the days I don't feel like it. I have a great new team around me that's holding me accountable.

So it's been a really good season and I'm happy where I'm at and blessed to be in this position.

Q. Obviously one of those story lines every year, this is the winless Grand Slam streak for American players. The fact Jannik Sinner is not playing here I think creates opportunity. Wondering if there is more pressure than ever on American players to finally win the hardware.

FRANCES TIAFOE: No, not really. It's the same conversation. Still gotta beat seven guys however way you slice it.

For me, doesn't really matter if those guys are in, those guys are not. Jannik's still playing, Carlos is still playing, Djokovic is still playing, a lot of good players. And to be honest with you, I've lost the last few slams not to any of those guys.

You know, my mind says it's not really worried about any of those guys. Just trying to beat the guy in front of me.

Q. You played a five-setter against Federer here in 2017. What are your memories of that? Just memories or thoughts about him as he goes into the Hall of Fame tomorrow.

FRANCES TIAFOE: He's a legend. You see him, he's mid-40s and he's packing arenas still. Happy to see him hit. He can't even move anymore for real, people happy to see him hit. He's a total legend, cool to see him.

I wish I was out here in those days. That was my first day coming to the site. He's not just a legend in this sport. He's crossed over. He's one of the Mount Rushmore athletes. He's blessed the game tremendously. He looks like an actor now, even when he played.

It's awesome to see him be here and hit and be around the game. He's made such an impact on this game, more than he probably even knows. It's awesome to see how much he still loves it.

Q. This time last year you had a few thoughts about Carlos' trim.

FRANCES TIAFOE: I was with him yesterday. I think the long hair is fire. I like it.

Q. The cornrows.

FRANCES TIAFOE: I asked him if he was going to do it. He said, no, the upkeep is too hard. But he had a do-rag. I was, like, Come on, champ.

That was awesome. That was awesome. Yeah, I like him with long hair. He said he's going to keep the long hair. I just want y'all to know, Carlos is my guy. He would say the same. I love that dude, for sure.

Q. Carlos, what do you think about him coming back and how quickly he becomes a problem for the rest of the tour?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Sure. If he comes back anywhere near his level it's tough. Regardless, even if he's not at his tip-top, he's still got to be No. 5. We'll see how it goes, man. Everyone is going to be pretty tapped in to see his first match. We'll see how it goes. He's 10 years older and has seven slams, he's going to be a tough out regardless.

Yeah, I mean, he's always a guy we're going to look at, but a lot of guys believe they can not only get him but win the event. It's going to be an exciting US Open. It's going to be exciting for you guys.