This is the fourth installment of the Tiafoe series. Welcome back, and I hope that everybody enjoys the post.

September

Still in the US Open, Tiafoe’s next opponent was French veteran Adrian Mannarino. For the first time in the tournament, Tiafoe dropped the first set. Frances started the match off in dominant fashion, winning the first game at Love. Nevertheless, Mannarino broke in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Though Big Foe would continue to hold serve for the rest of the set, he couldn’t claw his way back in. In Set 2 Frances regrouped and leveled the match, winning seven straight games at 2-2 to capture the set 6-2, and taking a 3-0 lead in Set 3. He maintained the lead, and with a snap of your fingers, Tiafoe was up two sets to one. Not going down without a fight, Mannarino broke Tiafoe twice (though Tiafoe broke back), and forced the set to a tiebreak. The tie-break was also a close fight, but Tiafoe managed to close out the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6⁶. Another lefty downed for Big Foe. Tiafoe finished the match with 15 aces, and only one double fault to move on to round four (R4). After dispatching Mannarino, Tiafoe’s next opponent was Rinky Hijikata (Australia), who was having a decent year. Hijikata won the AO Doubles earlier in the year and broke into the Top 100 with his US Open run. While it took some time for Big Foe to get into top gear, it wasn’t needed to dispatch Hijikata 6-4, 6-1, 6-4. He finished with 27 winners and three double faults. This put Big Foe into the QFs for the second consecutive year, and he faced Ben Shelton (United States) to get back to the semis.

Shelton, already into his second major QF of the year, was having one of the best US Opens that anyone could hope for. Frances was the higher-ranked player and more experienced, but he couldn’t get past Shelton’s power. There were four consecutive breaks at the beginning of the set, but Shelton grabbed the momentum and stole the first set 6-2. Set 2 started out the same way, with four back-to-back breaks. This time Tiafoe took the momentum and leveled the match 6-3. Set 3 was a wrestling match, with six breaks of serve, and a tiebreak ensued. Both players competed at an extremely high level. At one point in the tie-break, it looked like Tiafoe was going to grab Set 3 and go up two sets to one. He had a set point at 7-6, after saving two set points at 4-6. But, Shelton wouldn’t go away and cracked one of the biggest forehand winners I’ve ever seen. Big Foe seemed a little deflated after that, and Shelton took the breaker 9-7. Shelton rode luck in the tiebreak to a win in the fourth set 6-2. Thus Tiafoe’s US Open run ended 2-6, 6-3, 6⁷-7, 2-6, and he dropped out of the Top 10 for the first time since June.

Tiafoe would move on to Davis Cup after the US Open, facing Borna Gojo (Croatia) in the round-robin stage (RR). Tiafoe would lose 4-6, 6⁶-7, putting him on a two-match losing streak. He had another Davis Cup RR match against Tallon Griekspoor, whom he had just beaten a month earlier. History didn’t repeat itself, as Griekspoor gained revenge 3-6, 7-6⁷, 6³-7. That meant a three-match losing streak. After two Davis Cup losses, Tiafoe went to Vancouver for the Laver Cup, hoping to regain some winning form. His first match saw him playing doubles with countryman Tommy Paul, winning the match 6-3, 4-6, [10-6]. He next took to the court against Hubert Hurkacz (Poland).

Near the end of Set 1, Hurkacz had a chance to win the set at 5-4 with Tiafoe serving, but Tiafoe managed to escape and held serve. As if he was proving a point, Tiafoe broke Hurkacz in the very next game to take the lead 6-5. He closed out the set at Love, serve-and-volleying on set point. Leading 4-3, at 15-15, Tiafoe served out wide to begin the point. Hurkacz hit a short return, and Tiafoe scampered to the net and hit an inside-out forehand. It looked like the point was over, as Hurkacz hit a backhand down the line. His shot clipped the net and landed softly on Tiafoe’s side of the court. Slightly overrunning the ball, Tiafoe hit a behind-the-back half-volley, and Hurkacz rushed in to finish the point. Big Foe was all over the ball volleying it away from Hurkacz to complete one of the points of the tournament.

After that amazing point, Frances held serve and broke Hurkacz at Love to finish a hard-earned victory and level their H2H.

Tiafoe represented Team World once more, in a decisive doubles match with Ben Shelton as his partner. Their opponents were Andrey Rublev (Russia) and Hurkacz. Tiafoe and Shelton proved a deadly combination, taking the match, and the tournament 7-6⁴, 7-6⁵. Both players put on a display of fantastic serving and delicate touch. This was the second time that Tiafoe gave Team World the Laver Cup title (last year he defeated Tsitsipas 1-6, 7-6¹¹, [10-8]).

But, with all that said I’m done talking for now. I’ll see you all later, peace!