CITI OPEN

August 3, 2021

Frances Tiafoe

Press Conference

J. BROOKSBY/F. Tiafoe

7-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Your first time playing Brooksby. What did you think of his game? What kind of gave you trouble at times?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Super unorthodox. Obviously everything he does is pretty strange. Puts you in awkward positions, makes you play an extra ball, has great anticipation of the ball. Is really solid, makes you play a lot.

Yeah, I mean, he made me play a lot. He played super well tonight, I thought. I didn't think I played badly, but... Yeah, I mean, definitely wasn't the result I was expecting tonight.

Q. When you're playing someone new like that, how do you prepare?

FRANCES TIAFOE: You know, I mean, he has a ton of confidence. He's young. He's playing free. First kind of year on the scene. Every match he's super excited for. He's going to kind of go for his shots, hope for the best. He has no real pressure.

But he hit some good shots at big moments. I mean, he hit a ridiculous lob at 4-All, my breakpoint in the first, which if he misses, that it's an entirely different match. He came up with some goods after, just numerous other occasions where he just hit some of these crazy shots that most guys aren't hitting.

But you got to give respect to that.

Q. You're still playing doubles with Nick. What do you expect from that?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I mean, we were speaking earlier. We're just going to go out there and have fun. Obviously we both lost, which is obviously what we both weren't expecting. We're just going to go out there and have some fun.

We play late tomorrow, the crowd is going to be into it. Give the crowd what they want, we'll put on a show.

Q. What is your team like these days?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Obviously Wayne Ferreira. Wayne Ferreira is there. He's my head coach. My buddy Jordi is traveling with me for some weeks obviously since I stopped with Zack. He's helped me a lot. Even in the past, he's gone with me some weeks. My brother is there. A lot of people are here this week just because no one's been able to travel. 100% capacity. I wanted everyone to come and see me play.

But I didn't want them to see an early exit for me.

Q. I found out that the US Open is not making qualifying open to the public. The main draw is at 100% capacity. What do you think of the fact they're closing up qualifying but if you can afford a ticket you can go to the main draw of the US Open?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I mean, haven't even thought about that. I mean, people want to watch the quallies. I mean, that's unfortunate. They obviously did that for a reason.

But, again, having 100% fans for a Grand Slam hasn't happened in over a year. You'll be thankful for that.