Can Tiafoe go all the way in New York?

Tiafoe’s remarkable story…

His father, Frances Snr, and mother Alphina Kamara fled the civil war in Sierra Leone and eventually settled in Maryland where Frances Snr worked as a labourer with a construction firm building a new tennis centre.

After it was completed, he was offered a job as an on-site caretaker at the Junior Tennis Champions Centre in College Park and it was there that his twin sons Frances and Franklin lived with their father in a spare room at the centre, sleeping on a massage table while also getting to hit balls on the courts.

By the time he was five, Frances was already displaying ball-striking skills and athleticism.

Tiafoe, whose mum worked nights as a nurse, spent most of his young life at the tennis centre and in 2013, aged 15, won the prestigious Orange Bowl. He was soon being touted as the next big thing in American tennis.

Frances quickly became absorbed in the game and coach Misha Kouznetsov spotted his talent, setting him on the path to the professional game.