Frances Tiafoe – ‘I Was Losing To Clowns And Took The Game For Granted’

[Terenigma]

Comments like these convinces me that these players read forums like this or reddit and twitter too much when using such dismissive terms that the online people use and it gets inside their head like they "should" be beating them based on some nonsense logic. No, you need to learn the player, train hard and maximize your game. Not just "assume" you're better than them, especially when you're consistantly not and have nothing to backup that delusion.

 

[JustMy2Cents]

Tiafoe just talks like we do on TTW and he gets pelters for it lol. Hes correct, he was losing to mugs left and right.

players he was losing to are NOT mugs.... see this list

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1807835165357486229

The handshake at the end of the match between Tiafoe and Arnaldi makes me think that Tiafoe is well aware of who he was up against. That's really what makes it worse in my eyes. Arnaldi is th 35th ranked player in the world. He knows who he is.

Every loss that Tiafoe has had so far this year was to an opponent, that on an off day, was going to be a challenge for a top 30 player. Tiafoe just seems full of himself.

yes, the list is above... they are all good/great on their day

Which mugs are that?

list above, and no, they are NOT mugs!!

 

[Kralingen]

players he was losing to are NOT mugs.... see this list

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1807835165357486229

Which mugs are that?

Rinky, Shapo, Rinderknech, Koepfer, Coria, Cachin, O’Connell, 18 yr old Shang

We can’t just do the whole “they’re all professional players so they’re sooooo good xDDD” thing all the time. We can have an earnest discussion about requirements of being a top player and meeting/failing to meet expectations at the professional level.

If Tiafoe is a top 10 level player contending for the biggest prizes, as his results in 2022 and the first few rounds of USO 23 may show, he is above losing the likes of these players, who are good, but are distinctly average and replacement level.

Put a separate way you’ve listed basically a dozen out of 15 tournaments where he lost to a player below his seeding. So he failed to play at the level required of a player of his ranking, effectively “below replacement”.

Tiafoe is capable of much more than losing to this lot. I hope you understand my point.

 

[JustMy2Cents]

Rinky, Shapo, Rinderknech, Koepfer, Coria, Cachin, O’Connell, 18 yr old Shang

We can’t just do the whole “they’re all professional players so they’re sooooo good xDDD” thing all the time. We can have an earnest discussion about requirements of being a top player and meeting/failing to meet expectations at the professional level.

If Tiafoe is a top 10 level player contending for the biggest prizes, as his results in 2022 and the first few rounds of USO 23 may show, he is above losing the likes of these players, who are good, but are distinctly average and replacement level.

Put a separate way you’ve listed basically a dozen out of 15 tournaments where he lost to a player below his seeding. So he failed to play at the level required of a player of his ranking, effectively “below replacement”.

Tiafoe is capable of much more than losing to this lot. I hope you understand my point.

my point is they are NOT mugs... it's about caliber on any day, not all days.
they are ranked lower for lack of consistency, not lack of caliber deserving the term MUGS!

foe has no business calling them MUGS as if he were some unassailable champ of uber caliber

 

[accidental]

Gets lucky with 1 slam semi and thinks he’s part of the big 3

 

[CHillTennis]

Someone had to say it. The Next Gen are awful!

Total clown show.

 

[fedfan24]

He IS one of the clowns. He’s not even as good as Tommy Paul level and belongs below with likes of Koepfer and Rinderknech.

 

[Pheasant]

That’s absolutely hilarious, Tiafoe. These lower ranked players are going to fight him tooth and nail from this point on. This reminds me of when Wayne Gretzky called the NJ Devils a “Mickey Mouse” club after his team beat them 13-4. The next 2 times they played, the games were very close; 5-4 and a 4-4 tie.

Don’t make a team or a guy angry.

I’m very curious about how this will play out now.

Tiafoe, by putting his foot in his mouth, just made things a little more interesting.

 

[sherpa]

The trouble is, these guys get paid squillions and they don't do anything. They believe all the hype without actually backing it up and Tiafoe is certainly one of them and unfortunately he's not alone

 

[McGradey]

players he was losing to are NOT mugs.... see this list

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1807835165357486229

yes, the list is above... they are all good/great on their day

list above, and no, they are NOT mugs!!

Ironically many are quite similar players to Tiafoe — inconsistent with occasional peaks.

 

[Fabresque]

This guy is such a loser man. You are not better than anybody you’re calling a clown. F-ing A Frances, get a grip.

 

[Sentinel]

I guess had he called them mugs, we'd all be happy.

 

[TheFifthSet]

He mostly lost to guys of a broadly similar calibre.

Not a good look to get such a big head about a cup of coffee in the Top 10.

 

[TheFifthSet]

Rinky, Shapo, Rinderknech, Koepfer, Coria, Cachin, O’Connell, 18 yr old Shang

We can’t just do the whole “they’re all professional players so they’re sooooo good xDDD” thing all the time. We can have an earnest discussion about requirements of being a top player and meeting/failing to meet expectations at the professional level.

If Tiafoe is a top 10 level player contending for the biggest prizes, as his results in 2022 and the first few rounds of USO 23 may show, he is above losing the likes of these players, who are good, but are distinctly average and replacement level.

Put a separate way you’ve listed basically a dozen out of 15 tournaments where he lost to a player below his seeding. So he failed to play at the level required of a player of his ranking, effectively “below replacement”.

Tiafoe is capable of much more than losing to this lot. I hope you understand my point.

Could be that his recent losses represent a regression to the mean though. He was a steady Top 30-70 player before his short stint in the Top 10. Four of those losses were on red clay, where he’s never been much to write home about.

Of the rest, several don’t look so bad in hindsight. Mahac is on the upswing and has surged into the Top 40, Draper went on to win the tournament, O’Connell had a career-best serving performance (78% landed in, 17 aces 0 doubles) etc.

Sure Foe is probably underperforming a bit but he hasn’t had nearly enough sustained (or even short-term) success to act like he’s above losing to those opponents. At the very least he hasn’t done enough to verbalize it lawl.

 

[Kralingen]

Could be that his recent losses represent a regression to the mean though. He was a steady Top 30-70 player before his short stint in the Top 10. And four of those losses listed there are on red clay, where he’s never been much to write home about.

It may look like that, but I believe it’s deeper than that. It was clear to me that Tiafoe had lost the hunger that brought him to the top of the game in the first place. His fight and joy for the game was gone. I think myself and other regular Tiafoe watchers have noted this in recent months… I believe @bluetrain4 and I have had a few conversations about it… he’s split with Ferreira and shown up with a severe lack of focus and fighting spirit, and it permeates everything he does.

Someone like Eubanks (currently 128th in the world) is a better example of a true fluke result being followed by a regression to the mean.

Look, the ATP Tour can be brutal and really put you in a tailspin, you get two bad draws and it multiplies and tanks your ranking, so you get tougher draws, it’s a feedback loop. I understand all that. But that’s not what’s happened to Frances here, it’s something within him that was there and no longer is.

If he replaced it with “I was losing to guys I shouldn’t lose to because I took the game for granted” I doubt anyone would have an issue.

Agreed that calling fellow competitors clowns is a dumb comment.

 

[TheFifthSet]

It may look like that, but I believe it’s deeper than that. It was clear to me that Tiafoe had lost the hunger that brought him to the top of the game in the first place. His fight and joy for the game was gone. I think myself and other regular Tiafoe watchers have noted this in recent months… I believe @bluetrain4 and I have had a few conversations about it… he’s split with Ferreira and shown up with a severe lack of focus and fighting spirit, and it permeates everything he does.

Someone like Eubanks (currently 128th in the world) is a better example of a true fluke result being followed by a regression to the mean.

Look, the ATP Tour can be brutal and really put you in a tailspin, you get two bad draws and it multiplies and tanks your ranking, so you get tougher draws, it’s a feedback loop. I understand all that. But that’s not what’s happened to Frances here, it’s something within him that was there and no longer is.

If he replaced it with “I was losing to guys I shouldn’t lose to because I took the game for granted” I doubt anyone would have an issue.

Agreed that calling fellow competitors clowns is a dumb comment.

I can agree with that (haven’t followed his career arc as closely as you have tbh) but even at his very best I haven’t seen much to inspire such haughtiness from him. In his two best years (‘22 and ‘23) he got by with a 7-13 record against the Top 20. 2-8 against the Top 10 (the two wins being over an injured Nadal in his last big tournament as a contender, Tsits in LC), with 7 of the 8 losses occurring in straight sets.

Ah I read your last line after I typed all of the above. I suppose we pretty much agree.

 

[big ted]

tiafoe will only be known for hitting federer & spoiling fedr fans’ wishes (including from women & small children in hospitals) of winning his last match

 

[MichaelNadal]

He mostly lost to guys of a broadly similar calibre.

Not a good look to get such a big head about a cup of coffee in the Top 10.

 

[bluetrain4]

I'm just seeing this. Wow - and I say that as someone who's been a Tiafoe fan. I get having sort of a defensive cockiness, a workable delusion (for lack of a better word) to be able be a pro athlete. Telling yourself that you're better than most, that you can achieve a higher level than most, as personal motivation. But, attacking other opponents is just silly. They're not clowns; they're doing the exact same thing as he is - going out there and trying to achieve at a high level - some with more success, some with less.

If his career ended today, it would be better than 85-90 percent of people who ever attempted pro tennis. His achievements aren't that great compared to the upper echelon, but substantial compared to many other players. He has real and substantial career highlights - a Top 10 ranking, a Slam SF, two Slam QFS, some wins over generational, ATG players (even if not at their best), three tournament wins (even if just 250s). But, there's lots of guys who have achieved similarly. He's never been consistent, yet seems to think that he is his peak performance/results - how else could he make the "clown" comment other than believing that since he did something "higher" than another player at one time, that he is inherently and permanently better. I say it all the time - a player is their entire range of play. I get that he feels he can do better - which is a good thing; maybe it will light a fire. But if he is to truly be better than most players, he has to show that more than occasionally; he has to show it consistently, and he just doesn't, and he never really has. He's reading too much into his career highlights.

Maybe I'm overreading it. The comments were brief and off the cuff. But still.

 

[PMChambers]

The difference is, we're not sharing the same locker room with the clowns we denigrate. Tiafoe *is.* These guy are his peers, they're all strangers to us. Huge difference.

He better not drop the soap.

 

[Mainad]

Bit rich coming from a guy with a girl's name!

 

[emkayenaim]

Btec James Blake

 

[Sentinel]

If he replaced it with “I was losing to guys I shouldn’t lose to because I took the game for granted” I doubt anyone would have an issue.

Agreed that calling fellow competitors clowns is a dumb comment.

He's using TTW language!

Gotta figure out what his username here is.

 

[Born_to_slice]

Tiafoe just talks like we do on TTW and he gets pelters for it lol. Hes correct, he was losing to mugs left and right.

He was losing to or having trouble with all sorts of journeymen his whole career and nothing has changed now. And the way a bunch of couch potatoes call pro sportsmen is not the best way pro should express himself but hey..

 

[aldeayeah]

Tiafoe's losses this year:

Hijikata (98)
Draper (40)
Shapovalov (118)
Rinderknech (73)
Koepfer (52)
Coria (83)
Cachin (91)
Shelton (16)
O'Connell (66)
Tsitsipas (11)
Koepfer (58)
Paul (14)
Giron (67)
Machac (75)
Shang (183)

All top 100 players except Shang (who now is) and Shapo (ex-top 10). Who are the clowns exactly?

Big thumbs down for the foe

 

[Gary Duane]

Tiafoe's losses this year:

Hijikara (98)
Draper (40)
Shapovalov (118)
Rinderknech (73)
Koepfer (52)
Coria (83)
Cachin (91)
Shelton (16)
O'Connell (66)
Tsitsipas (11)
Koepfer (58)
Paul (14)
Giron (67)
Machac (75)
Shang (183)

All top 100 players except Shang (who now is) and Shapo (ex-top 10). Who are the clowns exactly?

Big thumbs down for the foe

I have never liked his game. But in addition this has got to be one of the stupidest comments I've ever read from a tennis player.

 

[aldeayeah]

Anyway this is pretty misguided talk coming from a player who has never displayed a top player-worthy level, or come within sniffing distance of a big title.

 

[N01E]

Tennis player goes to doctor. Says he's doubting himself. Says life gets darker and darker and darker. Says he took the game for granted and got a little too comfortable, forgetting what he was doing to win. Doctor says, 'Treatment is simple. Great clown Tiafoe is playing in town tonight. Go and beat him, even local 3.5s can. That should pick your game up.' Tennis player bursts into tears. Says, 'But doctor…I am Tiafoe'

 

[GAS]

He means he was losing to Moutet and Bublik and his quote is 100% accurate.

 

[Third Serve]

He definitely browses TTW

 

[Third Serve]

Tiafoe's losses this year:

Hijikata (98)
Draper (40)
Shapovalov (118)
Rinderknech (73)
Koepfer (52)
Coria (83)
Cachin (91)
Shelton (16)
O'Connell (66)
Tsitsipas (11)
Koepfer (58)
Paul (14)
Giron (67)
Machac (75)
Shang (183)

All top 100 players except Shang (who now is) and Shapo (ex-top 10). Who are the clowns exactly?

Big thumbs down for the foe

Wow had no idea Shapo was actually out of the top 100

 

[MichaelNadal]

 

[aldeayeah]

Wow had no idea Shapo was actually out of the top 100

He's barely played since last summer. Has been struggling with both motivation and injury issues.

He's only now starting to work his way back.

 

[thrust]

Not a great look to call any professional opponents clowns. I like big foe but this is terrible sportsmanship

I AGREE! If Tiafoe is losing to clowns, perhaps HE is the clown?

 

[Shaolin]

I AGREE! If Tiafoe is losing to clowns, perhaps HE is the clown?

If you can't spot the sucker...

 

[InsuranceMan]

Anyway this is pretty misguided talk coming from a player who has never displayed a top player-worthy level, or come within sniffing distance of a big title.

Yeah 5 setter in a slam semi is out of sniffing distance sure

 

[ark_28]

Used to like him but he thinks he’s much better than he is, not even made a Masters final yet he said he’s mainly motivated by slams, he carries on like he’s won 15 plus majors.

 

[Dominic & Andrey]

Tiafoe just talks like we do on TTW and he gets pelters for it lol. Hes correct, he was losing to mugs left and right.

Yeah but it's still apples and oranges. It's 's obvious that none of the keyboard warriors out there would dare to call pro players mugs in real life, to their face. Here Big Foe unnecessarily puts himself in a delicate situation relatively to his relationship with lot of colleagues he probably meets often on tour. Better to keep some things for yourself for your own interests sometimes, unless you're a TTW expert macerating in your own sweat, sprawling all over your couch, then yeah I guess you can complain that those damn mugs don't fulfill your ideal conception of entertainment you think you righteously deserved.

Tiafoe seemed like someone very much liked by most of the other guys, and here it could change, so hopefully he will accept some potential backlash coming his way. Some players like Kyrgios, Paire, Ostapenko and others don't care to be perceived like d*uchebags, but I am not entirely convinced this is the case for Frances.
Obviously he shouldn't be losing to these players, but what he is saying here doesn't really come across as simply honesty, but rather like really poor social skills. Better to be slightly hypocritical and to not say everything that is on your mind in lots of settings. And I am not even mentioning how disrespectful and poorly choosed the world "clown" is. Tiafoe can still join TTW under the mask of a pseudo and an avatar if he wants an outlet, here in the real world he comes across as stupid and rude.

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

Hes a star playing at Wimbledon, thats all that means.

He's not a star playing at any event, period.

 

[aldeayeah]

Yeah 5 setter in a slam semi is out of sniffing distance sure

i mean, to me sniffing distance is being ahead in the scoreboard in an actual final

i guess your nose is more sensitive than mine

 

[InsuranceMan]

i mean, to me sniffing distance is being ahead in the scoreboard in an actual final

i guess your nose is more sensitive than mine

I guess so, and that’s fine. Not really something to argue it’s really more of a subjective thing from fan to fan. Personally I just feel like being in a SF one-set shootout against the man on tour is sniffing distance, especially when he had Casper Ruud waiting in the final on hard court, and home court/crowd advantage.

 

[Gemini]

Tiafoe used to have a great attitude, very positive on court. Now he's just a boring guy, and it sounds like he's becoming unbearable...

Honestly, I think he's starting to feel the weight of expectation. The vast majority of us aren't part of his inner circle so we're just speculating. Even in speculation, one can accurately say that he's feeling pressure to achieve for a number of different reasons.

 

[BeatlesFan]

I have never liked his game. But in addition this has got to be one of the stupidest comments I've ever read from a tennis player.

Tiafoe isn't exactly known to be the most erudite tennis player. Even in America, they have subtitles on his interviews, like here.

 

[bluetrain4]

Honestly, I think he's starting to feel the weight of expectation. The vast majority of us aren't part of his inner circle so we're just speculating. Even in speculation, one can accurately say that he's feeling pressure to achieve for a number of different reasons.

That's a good point. But the expectation from this point is coming primarily from within - himself and his camp. And maybe that's a good thing. I really don't think there's any sort of burdensome external expectations at this point - from tennis journalists, commentators, most fans, etc. There's still people that think he can do better than he has been - that's not a stretch. But any talk, like when he was younger, of being the next American champion, a player contending for Slams, has generally passed among most serious tennis observers.

Flip side, maybe he feels external pressure, regardless of the extent to which it exists. I guess simply having endorsements and sponsors is a form of external pressure. And even past hype, even if it's largely over, can be a form of residual external pressure - "I haven't lived up to what was once believed I could do." And finally, maybe just being celebrated in specific communities - like his Maryland tennis community where kids look up to him - I guess that's external pressure too.

 

[Fairhit]

The guy told it like he think it is but he should have used another word, "clowns" is such a rude term for his fellow players. He should have thought a little longer and said he feels he´s losing to players he should be beating.

 

[Gary Duane]

Tiafoe isn't exactly known to be the most erudite tennis player. Even in America, they have subtitles on his interviews, like here.

It's a bit painful listening to him talk. But I don't want to make the mistake of assuming things from a person's accent. I have heard many people who speak well who slowly reveal over time that that is just about the only thing they are doing.

I'm judging instead from the obvious mistake of calling other players clowns when you aren't good enough to beat them. That just seems to me to be a kind of stupidity that is pretty hard to understand.

 

[Mustard]

Seattle will have its revenge on Frances Farmer

My mother always said that Frances was for a girl and Francis was for a boy, yet Tiafoe has the female spelling.

 

[Mainad]

My mother always said that Frances was for a girl and Francis was for a boy.

"Francis is a name that has many derivatives in most European languages. A feminine version of the name in English is Frances, or (less commonly) Francine.[4] (For most speakers, Francis and Frances are homophones or near homophones; a popular mnemonic for the spelling is "i for him and e for her""

Francis (given name) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[RelentlessAttack]

He’s been so irrelevant lately that I legit forgot about him for a while

 

[a10best]

Foe's simply not consistent where he thinks he is to say that.+ and he wasn't even injured.
There's a lot of players who go deep in a slam **once** and suddenly feel they've arrived and are the sh*t and everyone else is a clown.
"u think you're the sh-t, ...b*tch you aren't even a fart. I was exposed to some lyrics by Ice Spice. That's nasty, I know.
-- Foe had a lucky USO draw and beat an aging Nadal.
-- I think Fritz and Paul are better than him now. They've just been more consistent.
I wish Foe the best but he needs to do the work, show results of going deep, and then talk like that.