Frances Tiafoe, an American tennis professional, has recently made it to the World Top 10 ATP Men’s Singles rankings.
Born on January 20, 1998, in Maryland, US, to Sierra Leonean immigrant parents Constant Tiafoe and Alpina Kamara, Frances has been making strides in tennis from an early age.
Frances and his twin brother, Franklin, were introduced to tennis at the Junior Tennis Champions Centre (JTCC) College Park in Maryland. Their father, who worked as the head of maintenance at the facility, was the one who encouraged them to play.
By the time Frances was five years old, he had developed a serious passion for the sport. This was noticed by Coach Misha Kouznetsov, who began to mentor and sponsor him, helping him to enhance his skills and dedication to the game.
Frances’ journey in the sport took a leap in 2015 when he relocated to Boca Raton, Florida, to train at the USTA National Training Centre and turned professional that same year.
By this time, he had already made a name for himself during his junior career, even winning the Orange Bowl tournament in 2013, making him the youngest player to achieve this feat.
Frances, now 25 years old, has reached 10th in the tennis world rankings. He has also claimed three career ATP titles to his name, affirming his position as one of the promising talents in tennis.
Who is Frances Tiafoe’s Coach in 2023?
Wayne Ferreira
The current coach of Frances Tiafoe is Wayne Ferreira. Ferreira started his relationship with Frances as a second coach before taking over during the 2020 tennis season.
Ferreira was also an ex-American tennis player and was phenomenal as a player, recording 26 career titles, 15 Singles titles, and 11 Doubles titles.
The once World Number 6 retired in 2005 to begin his coaching career and has worked with Croatian Marian Cilic for some time and served as the captain of the South African Davis Cup team he represented during his time.
Speaking on his relationship with Frances during an interview, Ferreira was quoted as follows: “It’s great because he’s such a nice guy. We have such a nice time together. He has so many improvements to make and so much that he can do.
It’s a cool project because he can be so much better, and he wants to do it. It’s nice that he’s open to learning and doing his best. There are a lot of changes we have to make, and it’s a lot of fun spending time with him, being with him, and seeing everything go in the right direction”.
Frances Tiafoe started off 2023 with an impressive performance at the United Cup as the second-leading American male player. Under the guidance of his coach Wayne Ferreira, Tiafoe played a significant role in helping the United States team emerge as champions by defeating Italy in the final.
The coach-student duo continued their successful journey at the 2023 Australian Open, where Tiafoe reached the third round, pushing his ranking into the top 15.
Ferreira’s mentorship was particularly evident in the BNP Paribas Open, where Tiafoe advanced to his first Masters 1000 semifinal.
He accomplished this feat by defeating notable players like Marcos Giron, Jason Kubler, qualifier Alejandro Tabilo, and former Indian Wells champion Cameron Norrie without dropping a set.
Under Ferreira’s coaching, Tiafoe won his first title outside hard courts at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in a commendable display of stamina and skill.
He won four straight-set matches over two days, ultimately defeating Tomás Martín Etcheverry in the final. This victory led Tiafoe to the 11th in the world rankings by April 10.
Despite losing to 22nd-seeded Alexander Zverev in the third round of the French Open, Tiafoe and Ferreira didn’t lose their spirit.
They returned stronger on the grass court at the 2023 BOSS Open, where Tiafoe reached the semifinals and eventually the final.
His victory against Jan-Lennard Struff in the final propelled Tiafoe into the top 10 for the first time in his career on June 19, 2023.
Frances Tiafoe Previous Coaches
Misha Kuznetsov
Kuznetsov was the one who recognized Frances’s talent at the tender (8) and trained him for the next nine years to become a pro.
Kuznetsov was a former college tennis player who represented UMBC as a collegian and worked as a coach at Robert Maris Private University.
He quit his job at the JTCC during that time to dedicate more time to the development of Tiafoe and worked as his full-time coach.
Nine years later, when Tiafoe was 17 and became a professional, he had to move on to Florida to train with the USTA; thus, their relationship ended.
Nevertheless, it will remain a remarkable experience for both of them as Tiafoe won several Junior titles and reached the World number 2 Junior ranking under the watch of Kuznetsov.
Jose Higueras
When Tiafoe arrived at the USTA, Jose Higueras became his next coach alongside Nicolas Todero. Jose was an ex-Spanish professional tennis player who played between 1973 and 1986, while Nicolas was an ex-Argentine professional player who became a pro in 1998 and retired in 2009.
Jose was quite successful as a player and recorded 16 Singles and 3 Doubles titles, while Nicolas did not win any professional career titles during his reign.
Both have had great successes as a coach, with Nicolas now serving as the National Coach of the USTA.
Jose has worked with several top tennis players and had great achievements with his trainees; these include the likes of Micheal Chang, who won the 1989 French Open title with him, and Jim Courier, who attained World Number 1 in 1992 and also won 4 titles (including a Grand Slam) with him.
He has also worked with current top players such as Roger Federer, Carlos Moya, Pete Sampras, Dmitry Tursunov, Todd Martin, etc.
Jose serves as the Director of Coaching for elite development at the USTA, where he once coached Tiafoe before his career development.
Robby Ginepri
Robert Ginepri, popularly known as Robby, was an ex-American tennis player, although he did not record much momentum.
Nonetheless, he reached a career-highest ranking of 15th n in 2005 and recorded 3 Singles titles.
Robby spent about two years with Tiafoe before the player moved on to begin his training under his friend, Zack Evenden.
There are few details about their relationship; they did not win any titles during their time together.
Zack Evenden
Zack was a long-time friend of Tiafoe and joined Robby in training him in 2018, just some months before he won his first and only ATP title. At the dawn of the 2019 season, Jack became the full-time coach of Tiafoe.
The two of them spent a year together before they parted ways based on mutual agreements in 2020 to let Ferreira take over as the full-time coach of Tiafoe.
Frances Tiafoe’s achievements with different coaches
In the table, we have collected data about the trophies won by Frances Tiafoe under the guidance of various coaches.
| Coaches | Years of Completion | Titles |
| Misha Kuznetsov | 2006-2015 | 2013 Orange Bowl 2013 Easter Bowl |
| Jose Higueras | 2015- 2016 | – |
| Robby Ginepri | 2016- 2018 | – |
| Zack Evenden | 2018-2020 | 2018 Delray Beach (Outdoor/Hard) |
| Wayne Ferreira | 2020-ongoing | 2023 Stuttgart (Outdoor/Grass) 2023 Houston (Outdoor/Clay) |
