Frances Tiafoe Becomes First American Man Since 2006 To Reach U.S. Open Semifinals

The last time an American man reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open, George W. Bush was in the White House, Nelly Furtado had the No. 1 song on the Billboard chart and the iPhone was in its first generation.

The year was 2006 and Andy Roddick lost to eventual champion Roger Federer in the semis.

In the years since, American men have lost in the quarterfinals of their home Slam seven times: Roddick did it three times, John Isner twice and Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey once apiece.

With Roddick sitting in the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday, Frances Tiafoe wrote a new chapter for American men’s tennis.

The 24-year-old son of immigrants from Sierra Leone followed up his monumental upset of No. 2 Rafael Nadal on Monday by knocking off No. 9 Andrey Rublev, 7-6(3), 7-6(0), 6-4, to reach the U.S. Open semifinals. The last American man to reach a Slam semifinal was Isner at Wimbledon in 2018.

“Man oh man, this is wild, this is crazy,” he told ESPN’s James Blake on court. “Had the biggest win of my life 24 hours ago — coming out and getting another big win — Andrey is a hell of a player – this is huge, this is huge, bro. It’s tough to turn the page, but I did, and now I’m in the semis.”

He then added to the crowd: “Let’s enjoy this one, we got two more.”

Tiafoe will meet the winner of Wednesday’s night match between No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 11 Jannik Sinner.

No. 5 Casper Ruud will face No. 27 Karen Khachanov in the other men’s semifinal on Friday. Nadal, Alcaraz and Ruud are all in position to be the new world No. 1.

Tiafoe will take home $705,000 for reaching the semifinals. The winner gets $2.6 million and the runner-up $1.3 million.

“It’s just like a dream come true,” his father Constant Tiafoe told ESPN’s Pam Shriver. “He’s really really playing well. I’m like stunned. I don’t even know what to say at this point.

“If we can go to the end, I will be very very happy but right now it’s huge.”

Constant could never have imagined his son would earn that kind of money or accomplish these types of things. Constant emigrated to the U.S. from Sierra Lone in the 1990s and eventually got a job as a custodian at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md., where he would sometimes have his twin sons Frances and Franklin sleep over in his office while their mother, Alphina Kamara, worked two jobs as a nurse.

Frances literally grew up around tennis, watching lessons and hitting against the wall of the tennis facility.

I was playing tennis hours and hours around the game, soaking up the game, watching the game,” he said.

“You know, it was my life. The only thing I really watched growing up was Tennis Channel. I mean, you end up just falling in love with it. I think that will get you to the next level, for sure.”

Tiafoe’s win comes one day after another young African-American star, Coco Gauff, lost to Caroline Garcia in the quarters.

Like Gauff, he was heavily influenced by Venus and Serena Williams, who combined to win 30 Grand Slam singles titles.

“At that time watching Serena and Venus play finals of Grand Slams, when I was super young, I was like, how cool would it be to play Wimbledon, to play on Arthur Ashe and stuff like that,” he said after beating Nadal.

Now he, in turn, is influencing a younger generation of people of color.

“At the end of the day I love that because of Frances Tiafoe, there are a lot of people of color playing tennis,” he said.

In the second-set tiebreak, Tiafoe went ahead 3-0 on a lovely touch forehand volley that Rublev had to run to before spraying a backhand wide. Tiafoe then smacked two aces — the second at 134 mph — to go up 5-0 before hitting another backhand touch volley for 6-0. As he crossed to the other side of the court, the crowd erupted as Tiafoe held his hands up to encourage them to get even louder.

He then smacked a two-handed backhand winner and sprinted to his chair as the crowd cheered some more. He had won the tiebreak 7-0.

In the third set, Tiafoe got the break for 4-3 when he hit another volley that Rublev smacked long.

On match point, he served up a 123-mph ace, smacked the ball and then met Rublev at the net before pumping his fists to the crowd.

“Frances is not afraid of the lights,” Todd Martin, a 1999 U.S. Open finalist, said Tuesday in Manhattan.

“He’s got a ton of game and when he’s on you don’t want to play him. I like his chances.”

It has been nearly 20 years since the last American man won a major title: Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open, a span of 74 majors. Tiafoe remains alive to break the streak — and Roddick may be on hand to watch him in his next match.