“Man, I was losing it in the locker room. I was going crazy,” said US men’s tennis player Frances Tiafoe to the press after a mind-bending achievement at the 2022 US Open.

You’d think it was because he’d just beaten one of the greatest Tennis players of all time, one Rafael Nadal, in the quarter-finals.

Nope.

The 25-year-old was agog after his favourite basketball player Lebron James – whose celebration he imitates on court – had congratulated him on the win via social media.

“That’s my guy. So to see him post that, I was like, ‘Do I retweet it as soon as he sent it?'”

Tiafoe’s not doing badly himself.

At a current all-time high ranking of number 10 in the world, the 25-year-old is aiming to improve on his semi-final finish at the 2022 US Open, when the 2023 edition takes place at Flushing Meadows from 29 August – 11 September.

The man who stopped him from reaching a first Grand Slam final was another Spanish tennis superstar, wonderkid Carlos Alcaraz, but it took the 20-year-old a five set hard-fought match lasting more than four hours to beat the tenacious American.

That tenacity was inherent in Tiafoe from a young age, and when circumstances offered him a way out of a challenging start in life, he took it.

Frances Tiafoe’s perspective change

Frances Tiafoe and twin brother Franklin were born in 1998, two years after their mum, Alphina Kamara, immigrated to the United States – three years after her husband – to escape the civil war in their country.

In 1999, Frances Sr got a job on a construction site that serendipitously was the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland.

On completion, Frances Sr was hired as the on-site custodian and given a spare office to live in. His sons stayed with him five days a week for the next 11 years, staying with their mother when she was not working night shifts as a nurse.

Tiafoe and his brother would sleep on a massage table at the centre and wear hand-me-down clothes, which began to disgruntle the youngsters, until their father suggested they accompany their mother to a wedding in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, to see what life could have been like for them.

The trip proved another seminal moment.

“That definitely put life into a completely different perspective – the poverty was pretty bad,” Tiafoe told the BBC in 2018.

“We realised that we ain’t rich or living the high life, but we are definitely still blessed. We got food on the table every night, parents who love us, a TV, all the accessories we need. It ain’t terrible, you know what I saying?

“It humbled me and made me serious. It came into my head pretty quick to use tennis as a way to help, not only myself, but our family because they have sacrificed so much.”

More than tennis

Unsurprisingly, the boys took advantage of their living situation and started playing tennis regularly age four. At five, dad arranged for them to begin training at the JTCC bypassing their usual fees.

High-performance coach Misha Kouznetsov would then have a huge impact on Frances’ early career, coaching him from eight to 17 years old after being impressed with the youngster’s work ethic and interest in the sport. Kouznetsov was also one of the sponsors that helped cover costs so that Frances could play in junior tournaments.

By 17, Tiafoe had become the youngest American in the main draw of the French Open since Michael Chang and Pete Sampras in 1989.

He turned pro in 2015 aged 17, and won the first of three ATP tour titles in 2018, beating his childhood idol Juan Martin del Potro on the way, posting on Instagram: “You were the first pro to ever sign a ball for me. After that I was a mega fan. I remember saying to my coach this guy’s going to win the US Open one day and you did it. I cried in 09 when you did. I sound like a completely fanboy right now because I am .”

A debut Olympic Games followed at Tokyo 2020, delayed to 2021, which Tiafoe described in his own inimitable style: “Olympics was dope y’all.

“An achievement that can’t be taken from you. I’m forever a Olympian. Came a long way….”

The following year was the I-beat-Rafael-Nadal moment on the hard courts at the US Open in New York, while 2023 saw two more tour titles added to his tally, claiming the US Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston and then the grass court tournament, the Stuttgart Open, revealing Tiafoe’s versatility across all surfaces.

The final in Germany proved additionally meaningful.

“What a week man,” he posted after the win. “Title number 3 for the kid. With that now I’m top ten in the world. Achieving this on Juneteenth. SHEESH….can’t make this up.”

But it’s not just personal glory that Tiafoe is chasing. He has a broader purpose.

“This game is soo much bigger than me,” he continued. “I do this for the last name not my first. I do this to inspire kids who look like me. I do this for kids who ain’t got a damn thing against all odds but get the last laugh in the end. All I gotta say to y’all if I can do it y’all can as well.”

With that in mind, July’s launch of the Frances Tiafoe Fund – in association with the USTA Foundation – was a proud moment for the whole family.

“I’ve always wanted to be in a position to make an impact on kids who look like me, to play the game of tennis. Kids who wouldn’t be fortunate enough to play this game without this opportunity, nor would be introduced to the game without this opportunity. I’m a product of a kid who was given a chance and maximised it. Why not give more kids like me that same chance.”

After all, as the hashtag Tiafoe regularly uses on social media to encapsulate his journey denotes:

#whynotme