Carlos Alcaraz defeats Frances Tiafoe at the US Open semifinals in a battle of tennis’ rising stars, with the unseeded American taking the title on a 10th-set win.
For more than a year, Frances Tiafoe had to hide his growing love for tennis from his wife.
The first time his wife, Christina, confronted him about his increased activity was shortly after they tied the knot last August. The couple were headed to Las Vegas for the season-end Grand Slam of tennis tournament, and as Christina approached the car, Tiafoe said, “You realize you’re going to Vegas and all you’re really going to do is work.”
“I’m going to go to the airport and you’re going to go to the casino,” Christina replied. “You really don’t have to get married to do that.”
“I’m going to win the tournament,” he said.
Tiafoe won the US Open last year, upsetting Roger Federer in the decisive 4th set of a 3-hour, 39-minute semifinal. At US Open finals, he overcame Sergiy Stakhovsky in the first set. Federer wasn’t in town the following year, so Tiafoe had to compete against a young, hungry challenger in Denis Kudla in the final and came away with a 3rd-set defeat.
But the next year he got a break from his wife and took to the court against Kudla in doubles — a match Tiafoe won in straight sets. And in May, despite their marriage being rocky for the first year, Christina announced she was pregnant.
But this past week, that all changed. And it wasn’t just the love story that caused his wife to jump to her knees. It was the fact Tiafoe was now fighting alongside her — as an underdog looking for payback.
“He has his own journey in the US Open,” Christina said. “As much as he’s done well in the past, what he has done in the past was not on his radar.
“I think it was because
