"Congratulations! Young King!”
On the eighth matchday of the US Open, after Tiafo eliminated the winner Of Gen Nadal in four sets, black basketball superstar LeBron James sent his own exclusive congratulations. After a period of silence, Tiafu, who has shown extraordinary talent since childhood and was pinned on the hopes of the American men's tennis team, finally ushered in a highlight moment in this year's US Open, becoming the youngest host US Open quarterfinalist after Roddick in 2006. Tonight, he will compete with Rublev for a place in the top four of the lower half.
The Washington Daily interviewed Tiafo in depth as early as 2014, and this article may help you better understand how the child born from the most backward country in West Africa has become the tennis champion who beat Nadal at Arthur Ashe Stadium through his own efforts.
Tiafo grew up at the junior tennis center, but unlike his well-off classmates, his father was a cleaner at the center.
In 1988, Tiafo's parents left Sierra Leone in West Africa and fled from the world's poorest country to London to earn a living. In 1999, they moved to Washington, D.C. At that time, the Washington Junior Championships Tennis Center was about to be completed, and the rest of the work was urgently needed, so Tiafo's father, Francis (father and son with the same name), came here as a temporary worker.
Brody, a banker and owner of the tennis center, recalls that because classes are about to start in a few months, it is imperative to strengthen the roof of 15 courts so that rainy days will not affect student training. There were more than 50 Hispanic and 4 African workers, one of whom was very hard, sharp and well-organized, and the person who stood out was Francis.
When the tennis center was completed, Brody left the one-year-old twin father behind as a longtime maintenance worker. Frances was so short of money that he found a way to find work to do—cleaning the tennis center during the day and maintaining the clay court at night. Francis had never seen tennis in his life, let alone played tennis, but he soon mastered the art of sprinkling water on clay courts and bulldozing potholed fields. Sometimes, Francis would drag dozens of bags of 75-pound clay and re-pave all the courses.
Because his wife, Alfina, was working as a nurse on the night shift outside, the two sons kept following Francis. Francis transformed the school's storage room into a room where he could spend the night. "It was a fairly small room," Tiafo recalled, "and there were two massage tables in it, on which my dad slept and my brother and I shared the other." ”
Francis is sociable, has a big smile on his face and is very popular at the tennis center. When he was busy at work, everyone would help take care of the children. As a result, Tiafo and her brother can't remember when they first started their exposure to tennis – when they were toddlers, they were pushed around in a stroller by someone at the tennis center. When they reached the age of 5, Francis signed them up for a free tennis class, and the brothers became the youngest students in the tennis center.
From the beginning, Tiafo preferred tennis to his brother Franklin. But in every way, Franklin was better. "Little Francis would look at his brother," said Mom, "and then do it the next day." "The brothers also have a big gap on the pitch, but there has been no conflict between the two. Dad said: "Franklin just wants to play, he doesn't take it too seriously, he's just not too interested in tennis. ”
However, children from privileged families are generally able to learn tennis. At that time, most of the classmates around me had a chauffeur every day, wearing a design jersey, and Tiafu wore old clothes, and the classmates often asked him inexplicably: "Why do you wear that Pikachu shirt every day?" "Your big toe is out of the hole in your shoe, and you need a new pair of shoes!" "Why are you wearing khaki shorts when you play tennis?"
At the time, Kuznetsov, 24, was a coach at the tennis center. When he left at around 8:15 every night, he always saw Tiafo Jr practicing his serve on the pitch. When I clocked in at 8 a.m. the next morning, I could still see the kid playing against the wall. Every afternoon, after tennis lessons in the lower grades, Tiafo jr. picks up a bucket of balls and imitates the students of the older classes on the next court.
"He was such a hard-working person," Senior Class Coach Frank recalls, "and he would come to see us every day." "Little Tiafo often swam on the court with a racket, sitting on a bench overlooking the court, his legs dangling in the air, immersed in the world of tennis." When he was 6 years old, he said to me: I want to be a good player, I want to be the best player ever to go out of here. ”
Over time, Kuznetsov was impressed by the focus and effort of the little Tiafo. At the time, he happened to want to take a suitable apprentice, so he told Tiafo that if he continued to work hard, he would take him to the competition.
On the day of the race, Kuznetsov bought a new pair of shoes and an Underma shirt for Tiafo, paid for him, drove him to the race, and specially printed a piece of paper with the words "Congratulations!" This is your first time in the competition! "That time, 9-year-old Tiafo won his first title." That's a big deal! The coach laughed and recalled, "It was as significant as winning the Orange Bowl." ”
A few nights before the match, the little Tiafo would stay in Kuznetsov's apartment, staring at the TV and watching a tennis match. "I said, 'Dude! Don't watch Cartoon Channel? "He was sitting there watching the tennis channel and analyzing the matches. ”
In normal times, Kuznetsov is very harsh on Tiafo, and if he does not give his full strength in the game, he will have to take a penalty for running laps. He often reminds Tiafo of the fact that there are more important things to do than play games. After Tiafo loses, Kuznetsov asks him:
"What is your dream?" "I want to be number one in the world." "Are you progressing towards your dreams?" "Nothing."
Tiafo would constantly reflect on himself, but after winning the game, Kuznetsov would buy Tiafo ice cream as a reward.
Accompanied by mentors and friends, the two experienced many "firsts" together: at the age of 11, Tiafo came to California for the first time; At the age of 12, he stayed at the Seaview Hotel for the first time; At the age of 13, he went to France for the first time in his life and won a world junior championship under the age of 14; After winning the Junior Championship in Florida, he also experienced a jet ski.
However, as Tiafo took the next step into the world, his parents did not have the opportunity to witness their son's growth. Since immigrating to the United States, their finances have been in jeopardy. Her mother, Alfina, works in a nursing home, working two shifts on weekends, and has to attend three days a week to qualify as a nurse. His father, Francis, chose to leave after 11 years at the tennis center, started his own business and failed to work in a car wash. Local court records show that Francis has been saddled with debt. Couples sometimes can't even afford to pay the rent.
As a result, Tiafo's parents simply didn't have the money to watch his game. Francis said it was impossible to seek help from its old club, the Tennis Center, because over the years, the tennis center had invested nearly four hundred thousand dollars in Tiafford alone in coaching, equipment and participation costs.
Mom Alfina knows very little about tennis and is content to see Tiafo bring home the trophy – not because it values the title itself, but because winning it makes Tiafo happy. But for her tennis-loving husband, missing out on watching Tiafo's game in person was undoubtedly hurt. "It's particularly uncomfortable that your child is at the top of the list in the country, even in the world, and you don't have the opportunity to sit there." Francis told reporters, "But I put it down because everything has time." I should be grateful that if it weren't for this tennis center, we wouldn't have had this conversation. ”
In the eyes of Tennis Center Director and Senior Coach and Visa Ponca, no amount of expert guidance or endless training can replicate another Tiafo. "He's full of longing, he has nothing. His love of tennis is too deep and pure," Poncak commented with awe. "Some players like to win; Some players like money; Some players like to travel. And he loves everything about this sport, he even likes the taste of the new ball, he likes the sound of the ball bouncing on the shooting line. He likes things that are more important than money. None of us taught him that. Tennis is his best friend and he has been taking care of his good friend. ”
In the tennis world, the story of the fall of the young rising star is commonplace. A player's career can be halted for a myriad of reasons: injuries or unbearable stress; Can't get out of the shadow of defeat; Play only for parents and family, not for yourself. As a result, Patrick McEnroe, general manager of the U.S. Tennis Association's Player Development Division, has little to say about the prospects for young players. But he was very optimistic about Tiafo at first sight.
"He's definitely a real talent," Patrick said. "He has all the skills and knows how to play well – sensing the tense moments of the opponent and taking different ways of playing at different points in the game. I often see kids playing a good game but don't know how to play. Francis knew. When he played, he was filled with joy and a love of tennis. ”
The last American to win a Grand Slam title goes back to Roddick, who retired in 2012. He won the Orange Bowl in 1999 and won the US Open in 2003 and topped the world. But two other Orange Bowl-winning American gifted boys quickly became passers-by after switching careers: Brian Baker, whose career record was only 18-30; Timothy Neilly, the highest ranking in the world, is only 852nd.
Patrick worries that Tiafo's stellar teenage years will be an unbearable burden on him. "The American men's network is in urgent need of talent. The fact that Tiafo receives so much attention has to do with it. He is our hope and those pressures are hard to digest for any player. ”
At the time, Tiafo's parents weren't in a hurry to get him to change careers, on the contrary, they wanted Tiafo to go to college first. Francis thought that playing tennis might make a lot of money, but how long, ten years, could his career last? Fifteen years? Without a university diploma, what's the next step? "In the United States, playing a good professional sports can be a daily gold, but education must keep up. When you have money, people will find you, so you have to instruct them how to do it, to be smarter than them, not to make the experts smarter than you. ”
When I was in college, Tiafo and my brother shared a tiny bedroom just enough to fit two single beds, and ten pairs of tennis shoes lined up neatly against the wall. Usually, the brothers would write their homework together at the dinner table. Behind them, in a large glass cabinet, displays tennis trophies, photos of twins, photos of mom's nursing school graduation, and a picture of their childhood homecoming.
In 2005, the Tiafo brothers and their mother went back to Sierra Leone once to attend a wedding in a strange hometown. The 8-year-old brother realized that they had suffered insignificant hardships at the tennis center compared to their home village, which was extremely poor and war-torn from time to time. "People don't turn on the lights for a week, take cold showers, and live hard lives, where poverty is shocking. You've seen it on TV, but after seeing it with your own eyes, you know how bad it is. People live a hard life, and there is no hope in life. ”
Tiafo will always remember what his father said to himself: Don't care how others are doing, be grateful for what you have. "Those kids play football on the street, they're poor, but they don't ask, why me? They don't feel sorry for themselves, even though I feel sorry for them," Tiafo said. "That's all they have and they're content. I realized that I had the opportunity and that I had the ability to realize my dreams. ”
He wasn't sure if he had lived the life of his wealthy classmates as a child. "If I had the opportunity they had in my life, would I still be so eager?" Will I go to school? Would I care as much as I do now? ”
"Although there are all kinds of twists and turns in my life, Saion has lost his horse and is not blessed, which is the road that is destined to be taken."