Francis Tiafoe turns pro, sign's with Jay Z's Roc Nation. Expectations

[King Fed WW]

http://www.si.com/tennis/2015/04/06/francis-tiafoe-roc-nation-sports

Can he end the US drought? 11 and a half years since Roddick hoisted that Grand Slam.

Francis Tiafoe will turn professional and sign with Roc Nation Sports, the 17-year-old American junior announced on Monday.

Tiafoe, from College Park, Md., is considered an emerging star in American tennis. No American has won a Grand Slam event since Andy Roddick captured the 2003 U.S. Open.

In 2013, a 15-year-old Tiafoe became the youngest winner in the history of the Orange Bowl International and followed up by winning the 2014 Easter Bowl. He made his ATP Tour debut in July, losing to Russia's Evgeny Donskoy 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

He is currently ranked No. 520 in the world by the ATP, after he peaked as the world's No. 2 junior player.



Tiafoe is the first tennis player to sign with Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports division, which recently split off from the Creative Artists Agency. Roc Nation also manages Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant, Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano and Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, among other athletes.

 

[Nathaniel_Near]

Ah, my wildcard.

 

[babolat king]

Needs to work on that service motion, but has a huge forehand and moves extremely well.

 

[JanowiczJ]

I don't see it. I don't like a lot of things about his game. Last time I saw him was last USO and he's quite young, so he may have improved but I believe he'll be a top50 guy like many Americans before him but wont win a major.

 

[JanowiczJ]

Needs to work on that service motion, but has a huge forehand and moves extremely well.

He's very explosive but he doesn't move that well. Very inefficient footwork which takes a lot of energy from him, but since he's quite athletic it doesn't hurt him nowadays but doesn't look well for the pros. Quite different concepts. Kozlov moves much better than him. Also, he got one of those big forehands that Americans love but IMHO doesn't suit today's game if you want to win slams. I don't see any guy winning a slam with that kind of forehand outside of Wimbledon (if they also have a huge serve).

Btw, I'm not sure why in a such a diverse and huge country there are so many elite players that look like they have been coached by the same guy. Damn! Almost everyone got this combo: big serve + neglected BH + this "huge" forehand that people love but it's quite hard to consistently rally with todays players in todays courts with it.

It seems they put 100 kids in one court and yell at them: do a swing that generates the most power to your FH. Once you find it, sticky to it. and they all come with this type of FH.

Yeh, I'm criticizing his main weapon, lol. I will state the obvious that his BH isn't great but from what I saw when he was 14 he improved it by leaps and bounds and if he doesn't / didn't stop improving it can become a solid shot, unlike many other of his American peers.

 

[jm1980]

His name is FrancEs Tiafoe, not Francis

http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2015/04/teenage-tiafoe-turns-pro-corrects-misspelled-name/54574/