Frances Tiafoe’s preparations ahead of the Wimbledon Championships seemed to be going well as planned. He recently won the Stuttgart Open, thereby breaking into the top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career. He added another feather to his cap subsequently, by becoming the third African American to achieve this feat. The previous stars who did this were Arthur Ashe and James Blake. Tiafoe has said how much of an inspiration James Blake has been for him and has praised his idol.

Tiafoe said that he was unaware of the fact that he was the third African-American to be ranked inside the top 10 of the men’s rankings. He had thought it was just James Blake before him, forgetting the legendary Arthur Ashe.

Tiafoe attempts to emulate James Blake by calling him iconic

After this phenomenal achievement of breaking into the top 10, and after the first-round victory at the Queen’s Club championships, Tiafoe revealed that he texted and called Blake. And though Tiafoe said that Blake didn’t pick up the call, he answered the text, wishing Tiafoe that he surpasses his best ranking of 4, and has a better career than him. Tiafoe said that it meant a lot to him.

Tiafoe also said that he looked up to Blake, calling him ‘iconic’. He said, “I wear the headband because of him when he went bald and started wearing it. This guy’s iconic”.

James Blake was a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and a semi-finalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics where he upset the then world no.1 Roger Federer en route. Blake amassed 10 titles in his career and made it to the finals of the 2006 tennis Masters Cup. Blake was once ranked as the world no.4, his career-high ranking. He was also the 2005 comeback player of the year. His conduct and illustrious career have been an inspiration for African American kids all over.

Both the players’ biggest victories came after getting the better of the legendary Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Blake did it in the 2005 US Open, while Tiafoe did it in the third round of the same tournament last year.

Frances Tiafoe’s realistic chances at this year’s Wimbledon

The encouraging words of Blake must have surely energized Tiafoe. Being the semi-finalist last year at the US Open, Tiafoe has an aggressive playing style consisting of a big serve and a powerful forehand, which is well-suited for grass. Even though he is going into Wimbledon with many positives, he would also know that Wimbledon Championships is not going to be a cakewalk for anyone as it is probably the most coveted tennis tournament, and players from all over the world give them all to lay their hands on the trophy.

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Tiafoe would love to make deep inroads into the tournament and for that to happen, he needs to play his heart out and ensure that his physical and mental conditioning is at its best. Like how Novak Djokovic says, Grand Slams are like marathons while other tournaments are like sprints. It is of no use to win sprints while faltering at the marathon.

He has to now ready himself for the best of 5 sets format and work on his endurance. He couldn’t do that against Alexander Zverev during the French Open third round, where he succumbed to a loss, losing 2 tie-breaks. He proved that he had worked on the tie-breaks, winning 5 out of the 6 tie-breaks in Stuttgart. If he does the basics right and works diligently, he can break into the top 5 and have a better career, just like how Blake wished him.

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