WASHINGTON — Frances Tiafoe couldn’t hide the excitement in his voice during Sunday’s news conference: back home at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.
The tournament’s grounds at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center in Northwest Washington are merely a few miles from the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park where his tennis journey began. Tiafoe, a Hyattsville native, grew up training there while his father worked as a maintenance man.
He emerged as one of tennis’ brightest stars and remains proud of his DMV roots.
“Well, without the JTCC, I don’t have a career, quite literally. It’s an amazing place,” Tiafoe said Sunday. “We have cranked out a lot of players: myself, Hailey [Baptiste], Robin [Montgomery], Denis [Kudla]. From a small area that wasn’t tennis-known, so to speak. I think it’s an incredible club and only going to continue to do great things. Super happy about where I came from and where I started the game.”
After sneaking into the event as a child, Tiafoe is now set to play in his ninth DC Open. Among a star-studded field with five men’s players ranked inside the top 10, Tiafoe is the face of the tournament.
He’ll be wearing a Washington Commanders-inspired Lululemon kit throughout and described the experience as a “long homecoming” — appreciative of the immense fan support and reconnection with familiar tournament staff and volunteers.
“I love this area wholeheartedly, man. It’s shaped me into the person I am today,” Tiafoe said. “To be able to see what the tournament has been, to now be the face of the event, it’s incredible. It’s also amazing, helping, seeing more people of color want to watch the game, play the game, be around it, being more knowledgeable about it. We had a few guys before doing amazing things, Arthur Ashe, and kind of want to keep that going.”
The No. 6 seed and 11th-ranked player on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour, Tiafoe will face either France’s Quentin Halys (ranked 52nd) or the United States’ Aleksandar Kovacevic (ranked 76th) in his opening singles match. He’ll also be playing doubles alongside fellow American Ben Shelton, ranked eighth in the world, providing added excitement and energy for fans.
Tiafoe is 1-3 lifetime against Halys, with just one of those matchups on the hard court, and the most recent meeting coming in 2017. He is 2-0 against Kovacevic with both meetings on the hard court, including the first round of the 2024 U.S. Open.
The D.C. Open comes in the midst of a roller coaster 2025 campaign. He is 18-15 on the year, highlighted by his first quarterfinal appearance at the French Open. However, he suffered a second-round loss at Wimbledon just a few weeks later.
Despite that premature exit, the D.C. Open offers the comfort of home and marks the beginning of the lead up to the U.S. Open, the season’s final major. In Washington, Tiafoe will look to build on the momentum from last year’s strong performance when he reached the semifinals for the first time.
“I’m home, I’m comfortable,” Tiafoe said. “It’s hard court. It’s hot. Ball is jumping around. Ultimately, I know for me it’s like one last push, you go from here all the way through New York. And ultimately, I hate to say it, but it’s the tournaments I care about the most.”
It’s also the time of year in which Tiafoe, a crowd favorite and two-time U.S. Open semifinalist, perennially plays his best tennis.
“Obviously, like Wimbledon and French Open, all these tournaments are very big. Of course, I want to win, but here is just a different feeling. I try to replicate it. I can’t really. I come out here, it’s do or die. I have that mindset. That’s why I play great tennis. I want to show up, compete at the highest level. Again, I snuck into this event. I have no more motivation than to want to see my name on the stadium.”
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