"NOW I'M BARELY SEEDED, LOSING TO CLOWNS" - FRANCES TIAFOE GIVES HONEST ASSESSMENT OF HIS POOR RUN OF FORM AFTER WIMBLEDON 1R WIN

Frances Tiafoe did not hold back when analyzing his performances this year after his first-round win at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. The American has struggled to yield good results on the 2024 ATP Tour.

Tiafoe is the No. 29 seed at Wimbledon and faced promising Italian Matteo Arnaldi in the first round on July 1. Arnaldi managed to penetrate Tiafoe's game in the first two sets, taking the first via a tiebreaker and the second after breaking the American thrice.

Tiafoe looked down and out but found another gear to turn the match upside down and broke Arnaldi four times in the next two sets to level the scoreline. The American maintained his level to take the final set and won the contest 6-7(5), 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. This was the 26-year-old's first win from two sets down.

The result was a massive boost for Frances Tiafoe, who is not enjoying the best of times on the tour. In the 15 tournaments he played in 2024, he has only won back-to-back matches twice. He reached the final at Houston and the semifinal at Delray Beach. This slump goes further back than 2024, as Tiafoe was not able to produce substantial results in the second half of 2023.

The American looked back at his "highs and lows" and his mental struggle over the past 12 months during a conversation with the media after his first-round match at Wimbledon. He noted that last year, he was a top-10 seed at SW19; this year, he is barely seeded. The former World No. 10 bemoaned "losing to clowns" during his slump and regretted taking the game for granted.

"It's brutal. Highs and lows. Think about where I'm at. Literally, this week last year, I was 10 in the world, and now I'm barely seeded here. Losing to clowns, I hate to say it, but I'm just gonna be honest," Tiafoe said.

He continued, "I took the game for granted and got a little too comfortable. You stop having fun with it and you find yourself in a weird position. Then you kind of forget what you were doing to win?"

Frances Tiafoe to face Borna Coric in Wimbledon 2R

Frances Tiafoe will continue his journey at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships and face Borna Coric in the second round. The American is in search of his first back-to-back win since the US Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston in early April. He has faced Coric twice on the tennis court.

The Croat won the first contest, but Tiafoe was the victor of their match at the 2024 Australian Open. Coric will come into the contest after a confident straight-sets win against Brazilian qualifier Felipe Meligeni Alves. The winner of the second-round contest will potentially face defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the third round.

Frances Tiafoe is defending 90 points at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships after reaching the third round in 2023. He was the No. 10 seed last year and defeated Wu Yibing and Dominic Stricker before losing to Grigor Dimitrov.

2024-07-02T01:14:33Z dg43tfdfdgfd