THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 5, 2023

Frances Tiafoe

Press Conference

F. TIAFOE/W. Yibing

7-6, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Wondering how you dealt with all of the various stops and starts, if you have a routine that you kind of go through in your own mind, telling yourself, here is how I do this or how you refocus?

FRANCES TIAFOE: No, I just have a bit of a laugh, honestly. It's just laughable stuff. I don't really have a routine. Just kind of take it light, come back in there and start cracking jokes with the team, not really worried about it. It's early days of the match, there's not much really to talk about in the match.

I feel like I have a good experience now so just come out and enjoy. But, I mean, it's already so stressful out there, so no need to go through this whole routine. Just have a bit of a laugh and get back out there.

Q. What exactly did you do when you weren't on the court during all those delays?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Yeah, there's ton of players in the warm-up area. I ate a little bit, listened to music, cracked jokes with other players.

Yeah, I mean, not much at all. There's not really much to do. It's not like I can go catch a movie or something. I mean, there's not much going on. Just chilling, honestly. Just doing the waiting game.

Q. How do you compare walking on to the court today in terms of level of butterflies, nervousness, with other times when you have had first-round matches here?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I mean, definitely you're always nervous because you care, right?

I mean, lately I just walk on the court feeling excited, another opportunity. I mean, here and the Open are the two biggest tournaments for me, two most iconic events. Two tournaments honestly that really matter to me.

I was just super excited to come out and play at Wimbledon. Wasn't really nervous. Ready to get it going. See how we go.

Q. Have you felt differently in the past or is that how you have always felt?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I mean, obviously now I really feel like I have a shot at it. I mean, before I was like I want to do well but that's like wishful thinking. Now I'm like here to make some noise.

Q. During that medical timeout, there was a long timeout there. What was going on there?

FRANCES TIAFOE: You're telling me.

Q. Did you have information about what was going on? What did he say when he came back on court?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I mean, no, I had no idea what was going on. I was just, I was like, man, this is wild.

Then he, yeah, he told me that his heart was skipping a beat. Having problems with his heart and stuff. Felt like he was collapsing in there. He's like, I'm gonna try and play. Once he said that, I was like, Oh, we're about to have a war. He's going to start coming out and playing loose, which we did.

I was happy he felt all right and he was able to finish the match and played a high level. I thought the last two sets was super high level.

It was fun. We get along really well. I like Wu a lot. We're going to have many more battles.

Q. Don't know if you saw Chelsea Handler in the crowd?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Yeah, I actually didn't see her until after. Gave her a hug after. There was a lot of familiar faces there today (smiling).

Super cool. Super cool that people like that want to come and watch me play. I mean, that means a lot for a guy like me. Yeah, that was pretty wild. Lindsey Vonn there too. That was pretty cool.

Q. On your level today, how happy were you with your overall level?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Yeah, I didn't think I played unbelievable today but I played a pretty solid level. To be able to get through in straights is always great, right? Less time spent on court is always the best. Especially I have to play again tomorrow.

Yeah, I'm happy. I don't want to blow my load in the first round. I want to keep getting better each round.

Q. You mentioned a couple of times that spending the time cracking up, making jokes. A really tough question for you, Frances. If you had to do the top three all-time funniest, most humorous guys, women on the tour that we know, who are your top three?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Well, definitely me. Definitely putting myself in there (smiling). I would definitely put obviously Gael in there. He's unbelievable.

Q. You've got to give me his strength. Is it wordplay or just off-color, or...

FRANCES TIAFOE: It's just who he is. Just how he carries himself and things he says, quite funny.

I'm just going to throw a curveball, you guys won't really think. I'm going to put Andy Murray in there. Very dry humor. Very, very funny.

You guys think he's boring or whatever, but I think he's hilarious. Man, I love that guy. We get along really well. Yeah, he's not one people think about, anything about funny. He's definitely very funny.

Q. You have been around the block a few times now. Curious what you remember about your first Wimbledon and what you were like then and what you know now about being a professional tennis player and the lifestyle that you didn't know before?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Great question. First time I went main draw 2017, I was 19, beat Haase, on July 4 I remember, on one of the side courts.

I remember I was just ecstatic to win a first round at Wimbledon. Screaming "July 4th" after, whatever. Just in that sense alone, I think I have come a long way. Now it's kind of just another day. Just, you know, just wash your hands of it and keep pushing.

That's changed a lot. Lifestyle on tour, I mean, it's great. I mean, right? Get to travel to nice places in the world, stay at nice places, compete at the highest level, and, yeah, and give you a chance to just make the last name mean something in this world. I think it's great.

It's all about how you look at the glass. You could say on the flip side, Oh, I'm away from home so long. This, that, and the other. But you're stating the obvious, right?

I'm blessed to be doing what I'm doing. I get to talk to you guys. I mean, that's fun, right (smiling)?

Q. Picking up on what you said about feeling like you've got a shot this year. Is this the first year at Wimbledon you felt that? Why is that? Is this because of Stuttgart? Is it because of US Open last year?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Definitely because of the Open. I think the Open changed my mindset for a lot of tournaments in general. I mean, the first few slams this year, you know, I had similar-type losses, which I thought if I won that match I could have went very deep.

But it's all about the big ones, especially when you're sitting where I'm sitting at now. If I want to keep rising, top 5, top 3, whatever case, it's got to happen here at these events.

More so, I mean, just Wimbledon and US Open, since I was a young kid is always the two -- every slam is huge, significance obviously, but these two, this one especially. It's the pinnacle of sport. Wearing all white, the royal box, I mean, it's absolute scenes here.

I definitely always want to play my best tennis here. Now being in my prime, so to speak, I definitely want to compete for this thing.

Q. How does the disruption and the delays and the waiting around, and it's Wednesday and you just have played one match, how does that change the rhythm here for you? At a Grand Slam, best-of-five, you're used to getting that time off and you're back out there tomorrow.

FRANCES TIAFOE: Man, I guess I'll let you know tomorrow. I've never really experienced that before.

But again, you know, my opponent is dealing with the same thing. So it is what it is.

I'm going to go out there and win the tennis match. I don't really care. You know, you have one goal and, you know, the day comes and just win a tennis match and keep pushing. Everything else is kind of irrelevant.

I mean, I don't sound like all the stats are against me, da, da, da, whatever. Or I could just be like Novak and have 23 slams and not have to worry about it and just play on Centre Court every time. We can't all be like him.