"I'm showing this to our Academy kids" - Chris Evert hails Frances Tiafoe's picture-perfect slice
Former World No.1 Chris Evert is mighty impressed with Frances Tiafoe’s slice shots, to the point that she's ready to show them to up-and-coming junior tennis players.
The 24-year old is currently enjoying his time off from the tour, having just visited New York, where he attended the NBA match between the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks. He was supposed to compete in the Mubadala World Tennis Championships, which took place from December 16 to 18, but was forced to withdraw due to injury.
A video of Frances Tiafoe demonstrating his exquisite backhand slice was posted by the We are Tennis page on Twitter, writing:
“The art of slice, by @FTiafoe”
@FTiafoe)The art of slice, by @FTiafoe
(🎥 @FTiafoe) https://t.co/2T9yAtYxa0
Chris Evert expressed her admiration for his flawless slice shots and stated that she will share the clip with her Academy (Evert Tennis Academy) students.
“Awesome, I’m showing this to our Academy kids,” wrote Chris Evert on Twitter.
Awesome, I’m showing this to our Academy kids👍👍👍 twitter.com/wearetennis/st…
Chris Evert also lavished praise on Tiafoe after he accomplished a major career milestone by making it to the 2022 US Open semifinals, where he fell to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.
"You made us PROUD, @FTiafoe and you WILL win the @usopen one day," the former World No. 1 tweeted.
You made us PROUD, @FTiafoe and you WILL win the @usopen one day…👏👏👏👍👍👍
Frances Tiafoe wrapped up his 2022 campaign at the Paris Masters, where he was defeated by Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-4. He is currently ranked no. 17 in the world with a 35-25 win-loss record.
Frances Tiafoe opens up about his journey of becoming a tennis player
Frances Tiafoe recently spoke out about his journey towards becoming a tennis player. He revealed that the primary reason his parents forced him to take up tennis was so that their kids wouldn't be left alone in the neighborhood when they left for work.
"My dad helped build a tennis academy. Once the tennis academy was built, he became the head maintenance guy. My dad lived at the tennis center. So, with all those kind of things, it allowed me and my twin brother to be there for free," Frances Tiafoe said in the The Old Man And The Three podcast.
"Honestly, it's funny that we've been doing all these cause they were only doing that to get me to tennis center, to not be in our neighborhood after school and kind of just be in a good environment," he asserted.
The American claimed that he was happy to wake up every day to play tennis with his brother back then and that he understood very little about the hardships his family had to endure in the early years of his childhood.
"People ask me all the time, 'it must have been tough.' As a kid, like 'was it?,' you don't know anything else. It's not foreign. You hear it and you're like, 'man that's wild.' And I was like, I got to get up and play tennis in the morning and I got lucky," he stated.