Frances Tiafoe suffered more Grand Slam disappointment after losing in the third round of Wimbledon.
Tiafoe won the Halle Open coming into Wimbledon this year, with the ATP 500 title being the biggest tournament victory of his career so far.
As a result of this victory, Tiafoe was seen as a potential contender for the Wimbledon title.
However, Tiafoe was unable to live up to this expectation and after losing in the third round to 10th seed Alexander Bublik 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(11), 4-6, 6-3, Andy Roddick has revealed what he noticed was different about his compatriot.
Andy Roddick claims Frances Tiafoe ‘looked hollow’ after losing to Alexander Bublik
Roddick admitted that he felt for Tiafoe when discussing his defeat to Bublik on the ‘Served with Andy Roddick‘ podcast, particularly given his form coming into Wimbledon this year.
The former world number one then claimed that the usually upbeat Tiafoe appeared more dejected than he had ever seen before after losing to Bublik.
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“Rough one for Foe, like there’s just no way around it,” said Roddick. “On the heels of Roland Garros, where he was up two-sets-to-one and two breaks against [Matteo] Arnaldi. To come here and to lose in five, and in the third set he had nine set points and lost the set.
“It was interesting, I don’t know what the final error count was but going into the last game or something before we went on with the post-show live on ESPN, he had eight backhand winners and 24 backhand errors. So that’s five backhand errors per set and that’s his best shot, and he rolled over a couple in that breaker.
“Like I feel for him, because I feel like he has consciously tried to do all the right things and what you want for that work is to have those results in the majors and it has been the opposite in the last two majors.
“He is normally one of the nicest, most affable, ready smile guys ever, he looked hollow when he walked off the court today. I don’t know if I’ve seen Frances that legitimately sad walking off court before.”
What is next for Frances Tiafoe after his Wimbledon exit?
Although he has lost in the third round of Wimbledon, Tiafoe will actually gain 50 ranking points for his two wins at SW19 this year.
Tiafoe will now turn his attention to the North American hard court swing, which has previously been the part of the year where he has produced his best results, having reached two US Open semi-finals in his last four appearances.
That was not the case last year, and now Tiafoe will have an opportunity to put his Wimbledon disappointment behind him in North America.
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Tiafoe will play his next tournament at the Washington Open, before also competing in the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open ahead of the US Open.
With just 400 points to defend across his next four tournaments, it is also a big opportunity for Tiafoe to continue climbing up the rankings.
