Francis Tiafoe, the 16-year-old African-American tennis phenom who went into the 2014 French Open juniors as the #1 seed due to his status as the top ranked Junior in the World,
fell in the second round.
The result was a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory for Jan Choinski and a lesson in composure and resolve for Tiafoe, who’ll return to the courts Monday afternoon for a doubles match with fellow American Michael Mmoh.
What typically sets Tiafoe apart from other juniors is his on-court composure, his ability to bounce back from a poor shot or poor game and his even-keeled comportment.
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All of that deteriorated in the second set and into the third, as Tiafoe shrugged his shoulders, looked repeatedly to his co-coaches in bewilderment and self-loathing and yelled, “SO bad!” after yet another forehand missed its mark.
The junior Grand Slams are open to the world’s top-ranked boys who are 18 or under, which means Tiafoe will have at least two more chances to win the title. After his doubles campaign ends here, he’ll return to College Park to prepare for Junior Wimbledon, which gets under way later this month.
Hopefully Francis will learn from the experience an come back strong for Wimbledon!
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