Tiafoe

The next generation of top American players has struggled heavily against Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in Grand Slams. Tiafoe broke through with ...

He got the groups’s first win against the Big Three earlier this year, when he overcame an ankle injury during his warm-up and beat Nadal in the Tiafoe has always been the alpha of the group, always looking to rib his mates, especially Fritz. He cracked a rib ahead of the final of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., and then the pain in his foot returned just a few weeks before the French Open. Nadal struggled to find the court for much of the first two sets of his second-round match against Fabio Fognini of Italy. At the end the only thing that happened is we went to the fourth round of the U.S. “I’m not going to have that ‘first time playing him, excited to play,’” he said of Nadal after his third-round win against Diego Schwartzman, the 14th seed, eight spots higher than him. Then he started to feel better, played one tournament before the year’s first Grand Slam, and then won it, coming back from two sets down in the final against Medvedev, the world No. After a key winner gave him a decisive break of Nadal’s serve in the third set, he sprinted to his chair, revving up the crowd even more and letting the roars fall over him. He could barely walk on his chronically injured left foot six weeks before the Australian Open and thought he might have to retire. But he quickly came back to break Nadal’s serve in the next game, and then began hammering away and scampering across the court to chase down every ball he could reach and many he couldn’t. Tiafoe and his fellow 20-somethings have become solid members of the top 30 this year, but have yet to crack the next level. [strong and talented 24-year-old](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/20/sports/tennis/frances-tiafoe-australian-open.html) from Hyattsville, Md., who is one of the fastest players in the game and built like an N.F.L.