Ranked 8th in the world, Frances Tiafoe named four other good American players on the Tennis Channel podcast Big T, Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul and Learner Tien, before saying he wants to become the best of them and climb into the top five. He added he is not “satisfied” with eighth place, saying he even feels “underrated”, despite having just reached the best ranking of his career, after a third Grand Slam semi-final.
A ranking that’s never enough, a hierarchy watched too closely, a list of names recited for motivation: Céline knows the subject better than anyone.
He’s chasing the top five from 8th, I’m chasing C15 from C30.4, a club-level ranking. We’re in exactly the same place. He names four players just above him in his head, I’ve got my file with the names of the club women above me in the rankings. Two practice sessions away, mind you, for him too.
What strikes her most is that line about feeling underrated despite an 8th place world ranking. “Nobody realises the level,” she says, before clarifying she’s not talking about the ATP but about court 4 at her club, the one with the flickering strip light. She also points out that Tiafoe named four direct rivals without flinching, while she herself carefully avoids saying the name of the woman who beat her in three sets last year in the second round of club league (interclubs, Belgium’s weekend team league).
That shot, I make it. Not every time, but I make it. And I think Tiafoe feels the same about his passing shot, except he’s playing against Fritz and I’m playing against the bubble we rent by the hour.
Tiafoe’s ranking, in any case, isn’t up for debate: third Grand Slam semi-final, best career total, 8th in the world. Hers, she prefers to call “transitional”. Her season, anyway, really starts in May.
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
