SIERRA LEONEAN President Julius Maada Bio, today sent a good luck message to Frances Tiafoe, the American tennis player whose parents come from the West African nation, as he prepared for his Quarter Final tie at the US Open later today, Francis Kokutse reports.
‘All Sierra Leoneans are as one in wishing you well – our nation is behind you, Frances,’ President Julius Bio said.
‘Your skill, dedication and courage are an inspiration for us all, a source of pride that unites Sierra Leone. And we salute your parents for all their hard work and sacrifice in forging a life in America where you have been able to realise your talents. Good luck and may the best man win.’
Tiafoe, 24, a tennis sensation when he first turned professional as a teenager, gained worldwide attention this week after knocking Rafael Nadal out of the US Open. Later today he faces Russian ninth-seed Andrey Rublev for a place in the semi-finals.
Although born in Maryland in the US, his ties to Sierra Leone are close through parents who were forced to leave the West African state during its decade-long civil war in the 1990s. Now at peace and developing rapidly, Tiafoe has visited his family’s homeland and last September met President Bio in person. The 24-year-old tennis player is the son of Sierra Leonean immigrants Constant and Alphina, who moved to the United States of America after civil war broke out in Sierra Leone.
Tiafoe was raised at Junior Tennis Champions Centre, a United States Tennis Association regional training centre in Maryland, where his father worked as the head of maintenance.
At the age of 15, Tiafoe won the 2013 Orange bowl, the tournament’s youngest-ever boys’ singles champion.
At 17, he became the youngest American in the main draw of the French Open since Michael Chang in 1989. As a teenager, he won the US Junior National Championship.
Tiafoe won his first and only ATP title at the 2018 Delray Beach Open, becoming the youngest American man to win a tournament on the ATP Tour since Andy Roddick in 2002.
The Association of Tennis Professionals on November 1st, 2021, ranked him no. 160 in doubles, and as high as number 24 in singles on August 8th, 2022. Tiafoe broke into the top 100 of the ATP rankings in 2016. At the 2019 Australian Open, he reached the quarter-final.
At the 2022 US Open, he reached the quarter-finals, defeating seed players including number 2 Rafael Nadal and number 14 Diego Schwartzman. Later today he faces Russian ninth-seed Andrey Rublev for a place in the semi-Finals.
