ROLEX SHANGHAI MASTERS

October 7, 2024

Frances Tiafoe

Mixed Zone

F. TIAFOE/Zhou Yi

6-2, 6-4

Q. It's your first win in Shanghai for quite a few years, what pleased you the most about it?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I mean, well, we didn't come here for four years, so that's for one. Yeah, I'm just happy with it, honestly, nice carry on from the summer. Obviously last week was tough for all the Laver Cup guys, Tokyo, we were all fried. I got really sick.

I'm just happy that I feel good again, and to have a good effort in Shanghai, man. I mean, Chinese love their tennis, and they follow us so well, so I just wanted to put a good performance for them. And, yeah, I mean, I have a shot at the end of the year to try to have a really successful end, and I would like to get as close as I can to the top 10, if not top 10.

Q. You must be feeling confident after that summer that you just mentioned.

FRANCES TIAFOE: Yeah, yeah, I'm playing great tennis, so it's just a matter of just feeling better again, and, yeah, again, I'm not sick any more, I feel good, I'm ready to play. I had a lot of days off, so I was really excited to play, which I think really helped today. Yeah, I mean, I'm really confident in my game right now.

Q. How did you find the match just now?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I think he's a really good player. I think he's going to be really good. I think he's going to get in the top 100 pretty soon, and just kind of see how things shake. He's got a good game, man. He moves exceptionally well for how big he is. Like, wow. Really fast, covers the court really well. Pretty good serve, serves are only going to get better. Ground strokes are very good. He played a good match.

Obviously it seemed pretty one sided, but second set was very tough, he had some chances there and that could have easily made it a totally different match. But obviously I was quite confident, I came up with some goods at some times. But, yeah, it was a tough match.

Q. Did you catch any of Tommy Paul's match last night?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Braveheart. I messaged him this morning, Braveheart, man. I seen, I was watching, he lost the first, he wasn't playing that great, a little flat.

Then I saw he got broken early in the second, and kind of turned it off, so I watched some Netflix.

Looked again at the scores, now he's 5-2, I thought, Well, he's done.

Go to sleep. Wake up, like, I doze off, wake up, it's 6-All in the breaker, so turn it on. On my phone I got the eSIM now, so I feel like I'm back in America. I turn it on, 6-All, wins the breaker. And I didn't know he was down five match points until today when he told me. Incredible effort. Those wins go a long way, and hopefully he uses that to carry on. I don't know who he plays next, but that was big last night.

Q. Can you recall having to save match points in any of your matches, and what's that like, saving match points?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Yeah, I think, when was the last time I did that? Rune in Cincinnati, semis. Yeah, it's a great feeling, man. You're like, Oh, screw it. Gosh, man, I'm out of the tournament.

And then you're like, Oh, I'm in the tournament. And then you're like, Advance. It's a great feeling. You feel invincible for about 24 hours, until the next match starts, you feel like you're living on a second life.

That's always good. Those are always, you actually remember them more than, you know, coming out and beating somebody 2-2 or something.

Q. Speaking of next matches, Roman Safiullin for you next. Any thoughts on that one?

FRANCES TIAFOE: Not really. I mean, he's obviously tough. I think he's a super dark horse. I mean, he can beat a lot of guys. Quarters at Wimbledon. He's a good player. Obviously he's had an up-and-down season, but he's capable, he's very, very capable. Really good junior. He's got a good game, good serve, moves well. I think last year he beat Zverev. He's capable, so he's going to be tough.

Right now I'm just worried about recovering, have a nice rest of the day, see if I'm on tomorrow or not and carry on. I'm just happy to get the first match in.