Frances Tiafoe defeated Rafael Nadal in a superb match at the US Open and completely transformed his outlook on tennis.
The American has always had a lot of talent; in fact, two years ago, Novak Djokovic acknowledged that he could envision the American as a very good top-10 player. That's quite a compliment, but Tiafoe was never able to make it work due to a combination of his lack of seriousness and his general inability to play well consistently.
All of that changed at this year's US Open and he's still feeling the high of his semi-final run: "Beating someone like Rafa definitely changed my whole mindset of how I see myself as a player and how I approach the biggest events in the world," Tiafoe said adding:
"They've been winning, winning and winning for so long, and you know, we're looking at them like they're superhuman and to beat them in the biggest stage that we have was unbelievable for me going forward you know, to believe I can really take the next step and really win these events and be one of the best players in the world consistently."
He revealed in the same interview that he can't even remember what he said to Nadal but it was an honour to play him:
"Yeah, that was a big honor. When I shook his hand, I didn't even really know what to say to him. I was kinda like mumbling and stuff. He said congrats but I didn't even know what I said to him. I was so not in this planet. Hopefully we have a couple more battles before he calls it."
He carried over that confidence to the Laver Cup where he scored important wins in both singles and doubles for Team World.
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