Earlier, I covered the first six months of Tiafoe’s 2023 campaign. This is the next post in my Tiafoe series.

Before we start, I’ll give a little context. A former Next Gen ATP Finals semi-finalist, Frances had his breakout season this year, capturing two titles and breaking into the Top 10 for the first time. He also set himself up for his highest year-end ranking to date at No. 16 (six places shy of his career-best ranking of No. 10). We left off with his title in Stuttgart, and we’ll dive into Tiafoe’s season following his championship run.

The Latter Half of June

Following his Boss Open (Stuttgart) crown, he traveled to London for the Cinch Championships. He would only notch one win against Botic van de Zandschulp (Netherlands), with a score of 6-2, 6-4. Tiafoe would lose his next contest to countryman Sebastian Korda 6²-7, 3-6. Not a promising result, but understandable considering Tiafoe had just come off of winning a tournament, something that isn’t a regular for him.

July

Staying in London for Wimbledon (obviously), Frances had Yibing Wu (China) in the first round. Cruising through the match 7-6⁴, 6-3, 6-4, Tiafoe had signs of a title contender. His next opponent was Swiss Dominic Stricker. A talented lefty (Stricker is currently inside the Top 100, and competed in the semifinals of the Next Gen ATP Finals for the second straight year), Stricker took Big Foe to a tiebreak and forced him to win a total of 13 points to take the breaker 7-6¹¹. The second and third sets were more straightforward for the 10th seed, with Frances taking them 6-4 and 6-2, respectively.

Waiting for him in the third round was Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria). While trailing in their head-to-head (H2H) 1-2, Frances and Dimitrov had never met on grass and Tiafoe won their lone Grand Slam meeting in 2019 at the AO 7-5, 7-6⁶, 6¹-7, 7-5. Unfortunately, with the match spanning two days, their maiden meeting on grass didn’t reach the caliber that their AO meeting did, with Big Foe bowing out 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. A disappointing end to his tournament. Tiafoe would take some time to prepare for his home tournament in Washington D.C.

Side note: Washington was co-founded by the great Arthur Ashe in 1969 and has had a black champion four separate times throughout its history on the men’s side. There was Arthur Ashe in 1973, Yannick Noah (France), a charge of Ashe, in 1985, James Blake in 2002, and most recently Gaël Monfils in 2016. On the women’s side, Coco Gauff in 2023, Sloane Stephens in 2015, and Serena Williams, although I’m unable to find what years she won the event. Tell me in the comments if you know the dates.

Alright, I’ll see everyone later. Peace!