MUBADALA CITI DC OPEN

August 5, 2023

Frances Tiafoe

Press Conference

D. EVANS/F. Tiafoe

6-4, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: First of all, not the result you wanted, Frances, especially after such a tough day. Can you walk us through about these two matches you had today.

FRANCES TIAFOE: Yeah, first match was really good. I thought I played pretty good. Serve was a little patchy, but from the ground I was very solid. Shang is going to be a very good player, but I felt very comfortable in the match.

Then this evening, other than my first game where I played pretty slow, couple double faults and loose errors, I thought Dan played exceptional tonight. They just told me he had, like, six unforced errors or something. He played out of his mind, I thought.

There's a couple things I could have done better, but he really came after me and played well. I mean, there is not much I can really say. He executed what he wanted to do, and he played exceptional tennis tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. We all know how much this tournament means for you, it being your home tournament. Does Dan, with him playing such an incredible match, does it kind of lessen it, I guess, lessen the pain of the loss, knowing he was just too good today, or is it still pretty tough?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Yeah, it's tough. It's really hard. Everyone was there definitely to see me play and win. It was tough. Especially that, you know, I lost last year on a Friday night, epic. And this year also lost on a Friday night in the quarters.

You know, I feel like where I am in my career right now, I mean, 500 and stuff like this, I mean, I need to start going deep, making finals, winning them.

It's tough. I mean, everyone is playing so good now. He played a great match. But, yeah, it doesn't lessen anything. It hurts. It's tough. I mean, you've got to look at, have a little perspective as well.

Q. Speaking of that perspective, are you able to separate your level of tennis in that match from having to play the two matches and kind of the weird schedule? How do you feel right now? How are your legs?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I feel all right. It was really muggy out there. I think the balls helps him a lot. They are quite fluffy this week, so it's tough to hit through them. He's able to play his game quite nicely.

It was hard, man. I mean, obviously it's not really an excuse, he did the same thing as me. He stayed late last night, whatever, and he won a pretty convincing match earlier in the day. I had a little quicker turnaround than he did. He played a bit earlier than I did, but other than, it's kind of like the same playing field. He just played better than me. He deserved to win tonight.

Q. Can you remember another time when you did have to play twice in a day? How did you use the time between matches?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Houston, I won the tournament over the weekend (smiling). That was some experience (smiling). I was kind of, you know, going back to that and remembering what I was doing there.

But I did the same thing. I recovered. I ate, hydrated again, got ready for my next match. But, I mean, it's tough. I mean, again, I mean, it's one of those things, like sometimes you have to tip your hat to the guy.

Like, he played really well. I genuinely feel like I played one bad game tonight. Other than that, he played great tennis, man. It was tough.

Q. You mentioned the mugginess, I'm just wondering with that humidity, is it more about what it does to you physically or how it affects the ball and the shots you're making?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Yeah, I mean, definitely the balls are a bit puffy here. Slower conditions, which helps him with the slice and stuff, slowing me down.

Yeah, definitely makes it more physical. We had some tough, long exchanges, running up and down, both have good hands, so extending points.

Yeah, I mean, he made it super uncomfortable for me. He's made it tough for me, made me earn everything. I just wasn't able to convert it sometimes. He made me pay for it.

Again, he played super clean tonight. Low unforced errors, a lot of winners, served well. I have played him a bunch of times. I haven't seen him play that high a level.

Q. I know you wanted to win this thing, but throughout this week you got so much love from the whole DMV, all these fans here. What did it mean to you, I know you had it before, but this year, especially with all the hype, love and excitement from the fans, what did all that mean to you this week?

FRANCES TIAFOE: It's great. It's unbelievable. I never felt like this playing here. Everyone was taking me in unbelievable. As soon as I get on-site, everyone is screaming, yelling. I have never had this much love playing here ever.

Every time I played, it was packed. People were going crazy. Even there, I felt like a Grand Slam match.

But it's unfortunate. I'm down. Again, this is a tournament I really want to win one day, and I felt like I really could have went deep this year.

It's a tough one to swallow, but again, I have got a big one next week and I guess I've got to recover for that, but as of right now, it's tough to swallow. But at the same time, I have got to give credit where credit is due.

Q. You mentioned obviously Dan played an exceptional match. Do you feel like there is anything that you could have, aside from that game you could have done differently, not only in that match, but you have had some other tough losses recently, is there anything that you think you can do differently for a different result or just simply too good from the guy?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I thought I could have came to the net a bit more today. Probably the only thing.

I mean, maybe not play as loose of a game in opening game, but that happens, tennis. I mean, sometimes your opponent makes you a little uncomfortable as well. But I thought that's probably the only thing, I thought I could have maybe come in more, but again, that's old news now.