As Misha Kouznetsov and an 8-year-old Frances Tiafoe drove to and from various youth tennis tournaments around the mid-Atlantic, the coach and the pupil would talk, discussing the areas Tiafoe still had to improve on while noting all the progress he’d already made.
And they’d dream.
They’d dream of moments like Monday, when the now 23-year-old Tiafoe strode out on Wimbledon’s Center Court to face No. 3-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas — and win in straight sets. For the Hyattsville, Maryland, native, who got his start training with Kouznetsov at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, those dreams once felt far off — the wishful thinking of a kid and a coach passing time on the way to another youth tournament.
But the dreams never seemed unattainable, and they led Tiafoe to his first win over a top-five opponent and set up a second-round Wimbledon matchup Wednesday against Vasek Pospisil.
“We were all in. We were going after it,” said Kouznetsov, who trained Tiafoe until he was 17. “We believed in it pretty much from Day One. We never thought, ‘maybe.’ … That’s the mentality you’ve got to have when you’re trying to do something big like that. We didn’t really have a second plan, didn’t need a second plan.”
On Kouznetsov’s first day coaching at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, he kept his eyes peeled for a player to mentor. Most of the older players already had coaches, but he noticed an 8-year-old who stood out from the pack — not necessarily for his skill at the time, but for his athleticism and height.
Tiafoe and his twin brother, Franklin, grew up at JTCC. That’s where their father, an immigrant from Sierra Leone, worked as the head custodian, and Constant Tiafoe’s sons would play — and sometimes spend the night with their father — at the tennis training facility.
“I think I can take him all the way,” Kouznetsov told Tiafoe’s father.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” Kouznetsov recalled Constant Tiafoe replying. “He’s yours. Do whatever you want.”
So Kouznetsov began full-time training of Frances Tiafoe, working with the up-and-comer for four hours each day. Wherever Kouznetsov went at JTCC, Tiafoe followed, jumping in on different clinics. He’d compete against older players, rising up the local ratings through his play in area tournaments.
That opened doors to national events, and he soon became one of the best players in the country. When he was 14, Tiafoe put himself on the international map by winning the under-14 world championship in France. The next year, he became the youngest player to win the Orange Bowl International Championship in Florida.
As a professional, Tiafoe’s highest ranking came in 2019, when he reached No. 29 in the world. He’s since slipped to No. 57, but he’s made noise in major tournaments before. Tiafoe made a run to the quarterfinals of the 2019 Australian Open, and he reached the fourth round of the 2020 U.S. Open.
He looked in control in his first-round matchup at Wimbledon, too, dropping Tsistipas in straight sets. Then Tiafoe pulled out his signature celebration, pretending to spoon food out of a bowl and into his mouth — “the more matches you win, the better you do, the better the meal is,” Tiafoe explained.
“I was a kid that, you know, obviously didn’t come from much,” Tiafoe said after his win. “But I set out a goal from a super young age, using the game of tennis to be able to put myself and my family in positions to live the way I personally think we deserve, with all the hard work they put in, and so did I. To be in financially better situations, living better situations.”
Kouznetsov couldn’t watch Tiafoe’s match, although he quickly learned Tiafoe pulled the upset over Tsistipas when his phone blew up with messages about his former player. Kouznetsov hopes a performance like that can lead to more consistency from Tiafoe, prodding him up the world rankings to where Kouznetsov feels he belongs.
Tiafoe feels the same. He’s a long way from those car rides with Kouznetsov, traveling to youth tournaments at the beginning of his tennis career, passing the time with talk of what the future might hold for him in the sport.
But Tiafoe has never stopped dreaming.
“I’m not even close to where I want to be,” Tiafoe said. “I haven’t even scratched the surface.”
• Andy Kostka can be reached at akostka@washingtontimes.com.
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