To be fair, Frances Tiafoe warned Carlos Alcaraz that he was out to get him. And he almost had him. Tiafoe, the 29th seed, took the first set from the defending champion and pushed the Spaniard out of the knockout round in a thrilling five-set battle.
The last match between the two was the semifinals of the 2022 US Open, and it was an epic match. This is a rare sequel that lives up to the original work. “Obviously, playing against Tiafoe is always a challenge,” Alcaraz said. “He’s a talented player… It’s really hard for me to adapt to my game. [and] Find solutions.
At one stage, the U.S. was just six points away from a completely unexpected victory. All four players won the fourth set, with Alcaraz trailing 0-30 on his own serve. The crowd cheered and encouraged, as if he was the loser and not Tiafoe.
The moment was electrifying for the French Open champion, who fought back to win the match and force a tie-break, playing some of his finest tennis in a match that was already over. “I was thinking, one more shot,” he said. “I always tell myself that I have to give it my all. If I lose, I lose.
“The Archenemy” and “Little Carlos” sound like a title fight. There was even some good-natured trash-talking in the build-up, with Tiafoe declaring that he was “ready to go to war with his best friend.” Some dismissed the hype. While their five-set clash at Flushing Meadows catapulted Alcaraz toward the first of his three Grand Slams, Tiafoe’s career took a different trajectory.
This semifinal still represents the furthest an American has ever come in a Grand Slam. Since last summer, he has fallen from a top-10 player to his current No. 29 spot. It was this Draper who ended Tiafoe’s title defense in Stuttgart this quarter. Tiafoe said he was “so comfortable.” Maybe the performers are just waiting for a grand enough stage.
It didn’t take long for the game to heat up in warm, humid conditions under the Center Court roof. The 22-shot rally brought appreciative cheers, and when Alcaraz made the first breakthrough, Tiafoe hit right back. After four draws, Alcaraz saved three break points in a row with his excellent serve, and then won two more break points to seal the victory.
The third seed is carved with drops and lobs. Tiafoe weaves and blocks in front of the net. While Tiafoe’s offense was a little over the top at times – he had a smash on his own side of the court – it served him well. If Alcaraz was making plays from all angles, Tiafoe was covering them, and the crowd loved that. Tiafoe saw this and asked for more.
Alcaraz promised it would be a “fun game to watch and play,” and he wasn’t wrong. There is joy in the air. When the two challenged to call in the same game, a comedy ensued: Tiafoe’s call was just a hair’s breadth away, while Alcaraz’s was terribly wrong, aided by a suitably generous gesture from his opponent pointed this out.
Tiafoe seemed to really enjoy some of Alcaraz’s glorious moments, smiling at his friend after one of his cross-field winners. There was even a tender moment when Tiafoe slipped and fell on his back while chasing down the net. Alcaraz glanced over the net, then walked around it, offering his hand to help him to his feet.
Still, Tiafoe didn’t give in, even for the sake of his friends. After Alcaraz took the second set 6-2, Tiafoe showed the same resistance he had already shown in this tournament, against Matteo Arnaldi in the first round Come back from two sets behind. He kept Alcaraz in a cat-and-mouse game on the pitch until the pressure finally showed. In the three-level and fifteen-level matches, Alcaraz easily volleyed across the baseline, and shortly after Tiafoe got a break, he served to take a two-set lead.
“Francis, today is your day!” someone in the crowd shouted. After Alkaraz’s false danger in the second round against Aleksandar Vukic, this is the real deal. Vukic described his opponent as a smiling killer, but there were moments in this fight where Alcaraz’s lethal focus left him. He twice tried to retrieve the ball with his legs from the back of the court, but failed both times. Another wild miss hits the crowd.
It wasn’t until Alcaraz fell into a losing situation that he finally locked in his most glorious record. He was asked what impact the tension was having on his support team. “They suffered more than I did,” he said with a laugh. “But without them, it would be impossible to win.”
At the same time, Tiafoe reminded his fans and himself just how capable he is. Not bad for a guy who’s used to “losing to the Joker.”
