Tiafoe Takes Inspiration From Monfils, Wawrinka

During an emotional Day 2 at Roland-Garros, Frances Tiafoe eloquently spoke about departing heroes in Paris. The American himself had just come off a four-set win over fellow Florida resident Eliot Spizzirri, and he talked about that win with a large gathering of reporters before fielding questions on Monday’s feted tennis celebrities, Stan Wawrinka and Gael Monfils. 

The 28-year-old has faced Monfils three times and Wawrinka four, but more importantly he has spent formative moments in conversation as a true friend to both. 

We’ve Never Seen a Guy Like Monfils

Of Monfils, he said: 

“I love Gael, I think he’s a complete legend. We’ve been talking a ton in the locker room, we’ve been talking a lot this year, and in the off-season when he made the decision that it’s going to be his last time. We talked about potentially playing doubles somewhere. 

“We’ve always been really close and he’s always been like a big brother to me. We’ve definitely had some big battles as well.” 

Tiafoe was speaking before Monfils’ emotional battle with Hugo Gaston in Monday’s night session. 

“I haven’t been watching so much tennis but I’m definitely going to be watching his match,” he said. “He’s been unbelievable for the game and I think he’s going to be remembered for a long time. We’ve never seen a guy like him, with his athletic ability and how fun he was to watch. It definitely was known outside of the game, and made a lot of people want to watch the game – I wanted to be like him when I was younger for sure. 

“I remember all the highlights. It’s pretty emotional stuff. I didn’t think he’d be the last one standing, with Tsonga and Gasquet. I thought he was going to definitely be injured and out way earlier than he was, so it’s amazing that he made it to almost 40.”

Wawrinka an Inspiration

Tiafoe also has a great friendship with Wawrinka, who had fallen to Jesper De Jong on Court Simonne-Mathieu earlier in the day, ending an illustrious Roland-Garros career that featured the 2015 title and 46 match wins. 

“I think he’s one of the more underrated legends of this game for sure,” Tiafoe said. “Obviously it was super crowded with the Big 3 or Big 4 during that time, but for him to be able to get three Slams in that time was incredible. It was arguably the toughest era in men’s tennis ever and he beat all those guys to do it. Totally changed his career at age 29 and 30. 

Tiafoe said that Wawrinka’s late-career renaissance has been a topic of conversation and a great inspiration for him. 

“I have had a lot of conversations with him about that, those years are ahead of me,” he said.  How he was able to be that good that late in his career, and what he did to change things. We’ve had all types of conversations. He’s probably one of the realest guys I’ve ever met. We just talk pretty much in the locker room. He’ll come here and talk about our relationship and he’ll just clown me all the time. But we actually have a lot of good conversations, a lot of talks and I wish he could have had a couple more matches here. I think he’s an absolute legend. 

On his own chances at Roland-Garros, where he reached his maiden quarterfinal last year, Tiafoe said: 

“For sure I’m coming in feeling like I have a shot at it, why not? Obviously you just take it one day at a time and be where your feet are, but why not? Before I didn’t have the mentality prior to my run, but now that I have had a good run, I played great tennis here last year, with not playing great tennis [heading into the tournament], it gives me a lot of confidence. You always play well once you have done well at a place before. I’m excited to be here.”