Frances Tiafoe pulled off a huge US Open comeback. Then he helped open one of the first moments of the US Open.
Following his youthful, five-game comeback against Alex Michelsen, Tiafoe hugged his friend and good man after giving him the worst loss of his life. Michelsen cried loudly and left the court with a towel over his head.
Michelsen had the match in the third hand, holding it 7-5, 6-3, 5-3 at one point. It served as a set piece when he opened the game with back-to-back double faults, giving Tiafoe all the leverage he needed to get back into the match.
Advertisement
The 20-year-old Michelsen also had a break in the fifth set but gave it back and eventually lost in a 10-point tiebreaker. It was the first Grand Slam of the fourth quarter of his career, and he ended it as hard as possible.
His hug with Tiafoe quickly began to go viral after the match, with Tiafoe sharing his perspective in an ESPN interview:
“When I first hugged him, I saw him already crying, I was like, “I know man. I was there. I have been there twice, to be fair… He is young, he was not there. We are super-tight. We laugh and joke all the time, one of my good friends on the road. I know what hurts a lot. I know. how much” is about what you wanted. I know. how much it is.
“I just told him, ‘Bro, I know you’re going to be here so many times.’ He’s going to be rocking a chair when you do it.”
Tiafoe is one of the most popular players in the tour cause. In addition to being an exciting player who always seems free in New York City, he is beloved among his peers. Michelsen certainly seemed to notice him talking to reporters after the match;
“I wasn’t saying much, I was trying to keep it together, and I wasn’t doing a good job of that. He was saying a lot of nice, personal things, ‘You’ll be there,’ when I’m older. ‘You’ll be here. We’ll play again.’ He is a great guy to comfort me in that moment.
Tiafoe will face another fellow American, No. 8 Ben Shelton, on Friday, after Shelton’s late night heroics against Carlos Alcaraz.