Wimbledon: I'm here to make noise, says Frances Tiafoe

LONDON: Frances Tiafoe can test you with his chatter. Sometimes it's banter. He talks in spurts, and the decibel level dwindles from a mumble to barely audible.


The world No. 10's serve however is making thunderbolt noises at Wimbledon, where he's into the third round. The American's serving statistics after his first two outings read - 37 aces, 76 percent of points won on first serve, 50 percent on the second. He has saved 11 of 15 breakpoints.

Tiafoe's breakthrough performance in a major came at the US Open last September, where he made the semifinals. His first time in the final four of a major. He picked his serve as the shot that has developed significantly in the last 12 months.

"My serve is the biggest difference, getting myself out of trouble. Ace counts have been high. Sometimes my percentage is not high, but aces have always been pretty good. That's helping me a lot," he said, adding, "My serve is definitely paying dividends."

Tiafoe, 6'2'', sculpted frame, has long loaded his serve. Now with a new improved action, a tweak or two in his motion, put in place by coach Wayne Ferreira, the knife has been sharpened. "I'm going to serve (like that) each and every day. It's a constant thing. Just try to mimic the same thing," he explained.

"It's the one shot you have control over. Wayne has helped me a ton with that. Trying new things and still tweaking stuff as the tournament is going on. It can always get better."

Next up for Tiafoe is Grigor Dimitrov, whom he trails 1-2 in head-to-head clashes. They haven't played in over four years and they're both very different players now.

Tiafoe's run into the last four in New York changed his mindset.

"It's all about the big ones, especially when you're sitting where I'm sitting now. If I want to keep rising, top five, top-three it's got to happen here at these events. More so, Wimbledon and US Open, since I was a young kid it's always the two," he said. "This one especially, it's the pinnacle of sport. Wearing all white, the royal box, I mean, it's absolute scenes here."

"Now I feel like I have a shot at it," he said, before driving home the point. "Before, I was like, I want to do well, but that's wishful thinking. Now I'm here to make some noise."

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