Amid delays, Frances Tiafoe stays on course at Wimbledon

FLASHBACK: Ahead of Wimbledon, Frances Tiafoe won his first grass-court title in Stuttgart to break the Top 10.

Actors working on the sets of movies and TV shows like to joke that they get paid for the waiting. Based on a Wimbledon first-round match that eventually ended Wednesday at nearly 5:00 p.m., 10th-seeded Frances Tiafoe could surely relate to a vocation defined by a great many starts and stops.

Though in the end, Tiafoe’s 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 62 Wu Yibing lasted a brisk two-and-a-half hours, reaching that stage took much longer than anyone could have imagined.

This match was originally scheduled to take place on Court 12 near the end of play on Tuesday. Rain pushed it to Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. on Court 3. More rain delayed the start by 90 minutes. The first set was interrupted twice by rain–once for nearly an hour, then again for 45 minutes. After one game of the second set, Wu took a medical timeout due to an elevated heart rate, reported as 187. Reportedly fainting in a hallway off the court, Wu was evaluated and treated, returning to the court approximately 15 minutes later.

Addressing the many interruptions, Tiafoe said, “I feel like I have a good experience now so just come out and enjoy. But, I mean, it's already so stressful out there, so no need to go through this whole routine. Just have a bit of a laugh and get back out there.”

Just like an actor trained and prepared to hit the proper marks when the camera begins to roll, Tiafoe knew his lines and delivered superbly at all the right moments. After rallying from 2-0 down in the first set, Tiafoe served at 5-6, 30-40 and fought off that set point with a crisp 130-m.p.h service winner aimed at Wu’s backhand.

Once in a tiebreak, Tiafoe was magnificent, taking the first four points–a sparkling medley highlighted by a sweet down-the-line backhand, a sharply angled crosscourt forehand pass, and an ace down the T. Soon enough, Tiafoe closed out the tiebreaker with a fine wide serve in the deuce court. From nearly losing the first set, he’d won 10 of 14 points. This was textbook Wimbledon winning form, authored by such greats as Pete Sampras: while those grass court points fly by, stay close, then snap it open.

Certainly, the injury timeout disrupted Tiafoe’s momentum. He’d broken Wu in the opening game, but then could only sit, wait, and wonder if the match was even going to continue. At least actors know that the show will go on and which scene is to come next; not so in the unscripted world of sports.

“I mean, no, I had no idea what was going on,” said Tiafoe. “I was just, I was like, man, this is wild.”

Upon Wu’s return, Tiafoe lost his serve. Said Tiafoe, “He's like, I'm gonna try and play. Once he said that, I was like, Oh, we're about to have a war.”

Wu strikes the ball hard, flat, and deep, his short yet rapid swings helping him generate exceptional racquet head speed from just about anywhere on the court, particularly off the forehand. But in the face of Tiafoe’s tremendous movement, focus, and variety, it was difficult for Wu to sustain a significant form of disruption. One notable comparative metric: Tiafoe won 55% of his second-serve points, Wu only 33%.

So it went that in the next two sets, Tiafoe found what was required just when he needed it most. In the second set, Wu served at 3-4 and went down 0-40. Two points later, Tiafoe had earned the break. On his second set point, a forceful Tiafoe backhand elicited a forehand into the net.

As long a road as Wu had to climb, as much as the threat of further heart problems loomed, he made a strong effort in the third set. Tiafoe served at 1-0, 30-0, but then came a double-fault, a wide forehand, and soon the two were back on serve. Wu went on to take the next two games and go ahead 3-1.

Then came Tiafoe’s turn to win three straight games and serve at 4-3. Here again, Wu dug in, once again breaking serve. But with Wu serving at 4-4, 30-all, Tiafoe came up with a superb cross-court backhand and broke with a great sequence at the net.

“I was happy he felt all right and he was able to finish the match and played a high level,” said Tiafoe. “I thought the last two sets was super high level. It was fun. We get along really well. I like Wu a lot. We're going to have many more battles.”

With the end of a long workday at last clearly in sight, Tiafoe capped it all off in grand style: three straight aces. Wu fought off the first match point with a cross-court backhand return winner. But at 40-15, an inspired Tiafoe struck another ace, right down the T.

Said Tiafoe following the match about the many delays, “It’s Wimbledon. You expect stuff like that.”

In the movie Chinatown, amid tragedy, Jake Gittes, the protagonist played by Jack Nicholson is told, “Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.” In Tiafoe’s case, though, what happened over the last 24 hours at Wimbledon is all worth remembering.