The milestone caught Frances Tiafoe by surprise. But once informed that this past weekend marked 10 years since he made his ATP debut in Washington, Tiafoe flashed his trademark smile.
“That was an incredible night,” he recalled Monday afternoon. “I remember it was so weird to look into the stands and know every single person in the lower bowl. I know this is definitely a tournament I want to win and a tournament I'll always play in my career.”
Tiafoe is back competing at his hometown tournament for an eighth time since he debuted as a scrawny 16-year-old. A decade later, a DC title remains elusive.
“I'm definitely ready to win this thing,” said Tiafoe, who has reached the quarterfinals in each of the past two years in Rock Creek Park, only to fall to the eventual champion.
The College Park native has often described the Mubadala Citi DC Open as the tournament he’d most like to win after the Grand Slams. On Monday, he took it a step further joking that he’d even put it as his ‘fourth major’ ahead of the French Open.
“I'm ready to put my best foot forward,” he said. “It would be great to just play a bunch of matches here this week and get myself to the weekend and get myself to the position to try to win the event.”
For Tiafoe, that quest is scheduled to begin in primetime Tuesday when he faces Columbia’s Daniel Elahi Galan on Stadium Court (not before 6 p.m.). The fifth-seeded Tiafoe received a first-round bye while Galan advanced with a straight-sets win Monday against American qualifier Maxime Cressy.
“No question I want to win this tournament,” Tiafoe said. “I think everyone knows that… I've struggled to put consecutive matches in a row week in, week out like I have been the last couple years. I want to start that here [for] the rest of the year.”
Tiafoe is now a Tour veteran with three titles on his resume, a semifinal run at the 2023 US Open and a one-time ranking of No.10 in the world.
This year, though, has produced mixed results. A modest 16-16 match record has dropped his ranking to No.29. That led Tiafoe to call veteran coach David Witt. The two began working together earlier this month.
“It's going to be great,” said Tiafoe, who is coming off a quarterfinals appearance last week in Atlanta. “I'm really excited about the partnership. It's tough to find a perfect mix for me. I'm not the easiest guy to work with. I need a special guy to be with me. I think it's going to be really good.”
Witt previously enjoyed successful runs coaching Venus Williams and Jessica Pegula. Witt’s first tournament with Pegula came in DC in 2019 and produced the American’s first pro title.
Tiafoe was aware of the history.
“‘[Shoot], you brought some good luck to this place,’” Tiafoe recently told Witt. “’Hopefully you do the same thing with me.’”
It’s not an exact science, but there is history across both the ATP and WTA Tours of prominent players seeing a significant uptick soon after working with a new coach.
Longtime coach Brad Gilbert, who is serving as one of the Mubadala Citi DC Open’s event hosts this week, saw this firsthand when he started working with Coco Gauff a year ago in DC. Within weeks, Gauff won titles in Washington and Cincinnati and at the U.S. Open.
Gilbert experienced similar 20 years earlier when he began working with Andy Roddick, who also won three summer hardcourt tournaments within weeks of a coaching change.
“Ultimately it’s up to the player,” Gilbert said, “but it can provide a spark and the player sometimes wants to show the coach, ‘Hey, I’ve got the results in me.’ The player might be motivated to prove something.”
Gilbert also believes the Tiafoe-Witt relationship will provide positive results.
“David has had a lot of success as a coach. Usually when you have success at more than one stop, that bodes well. When a coach has had success numerous times with other players, that can often translate.”
Added Tiafoe: “I think it's just something new. Maybe a new voice is what you need to hear, a different perspective… Things are going to click when they do. But yeah, hopefully it's this week.”
Tiafoe is also hoping to build off a positive run at Wimbledon, in which he rallied from two sets down for the first time in his career in his opening match before ultimately pushing eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz to five sets in the third round.
“I feel much more energized since Wimbledon,” Tiafoe said. “I played Wimbledon probably the best I played in a long time. Just got that spark again, want to compete, want to have fun.
“Obviously coming here, I want to perform, put my name [on the champions’ awning] around the stadium. Gets me going. I mean, I need to get a few matches under my belt, get some momentum, obviously try to get some good momentum to get me to the [U.S.] Open.”
