Frances Tiafoe took an enormous step towards fulfilling his great potential as he pulled off by far the biggest win of his career, upsetting the second seed Rafael Nadal 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the US Open quarter-finals for the first time in his career.
In front of a rowdy home crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the 22nd seed became the first man to beat Nadal on court in a grand slam this year. It also marks the first time since Wimbledon 2017 that Nadal has lost before the quarter-final of a grand slam.
“I don’t even know what to say right now. I’m beyond happy, I’m almost in tears,” said Tiafoe afterwards. “I can’t believe it. He’s definitely one of the greatest of all time. I played unbelievable tennis today. I don’t know what happened.”
In his third straight fourth round appearance at the US Open, and having reached the fourth round of Wimbledon earlier this summer, Tiafoe arrived inside the biggest tennis stadium in the world full of confidence in his ability to pull off a big win.
He started as such, serving brilliantly while playing nerveless attacking tennis along with all of his flair. Even after Nadal levelled the match at one set all and then looked to pounce as Tiafoe showed nerves late in the third set, Nadal kept on pressuring him. He refused to falter.
Tiafoe served two audacious down-the-line forehand winners followed by an unreturned serve. After trailing 3-1 in the fourth set, Tiafoe rolled through five games in a row, slamming down an ace after a tense, tight service game for 4-3 and then playing the return game of his life to snatch the win without hesitation.
“My legs were like cement,” said Tiafoe. “I was like, ‘Just get out of the game, get out of the game,’ and I did.” He will face Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals after the No 9 seed defeated Britain’s Cameron Norrie in straight sets earlier on Monday. Nadal, meanwhile, was philosophical in defeat.
“The difference is easy, I played a bad match and he played a good match,” the four-times US Open champion said. “I was not able to hold a high level of tennis for a long time. I was not quick enough in my movements. He was able to take the ball too many times very early, so I was not able to push him back.
“Tennis is a sport of position a lot of times. If not, you need to be very, very quick and very young,” Nadal added. “I am not in that moment any more. Well done for him. He was better than me.”
The NBA superstar LeBron James was among those to pay tribute to Tiafoe’s display on Twitter. “CONGRATS Young King!!! You earned it!” James tweeted alongside a video of the match-winning moment.