Tiafoe takes championship, defeats hobbled Gojowczyk
20-year-old calls first ATP victory ‘unbelievable.’
DELRAY BEACH — When Frances Tiafoe slammed a secondserve ace down the middle to wrap up a relatively stress-free 6-1, 6-4 victory Sunday over wounded opponent Peter Gojowczyk for the Delray Beach Open title, he collapsed backward in a heap onto the stadium court.
It was as if an exhausted Tiafoe had completed a marathon from an impoverished childhood in which he often slept in a tennis facility in College Park, Md., where his father, Frances Sr., an immigrant from Sierra Leone, was in charge of maintenance.
No wonder Tiafoe, 20, looked at his father in his player’s box, tapped his heart twice and choked back tears during his victory speech after winning his first ATP title.
“It’s unbelievable,’’ said Tiafoe, who takes home $94,280 and 150 ranking points, which catapults him from 91st to 61st, one off his career high established last July. “That’s why I thanked my dad today on the on-court interview. If you asked me when I was younger if I was going to be here at 20 years old winning a title, being in a position, not only to help myself but my family … It’s an unbelievable feeling.’’
Frances Sr., who travels with his son as a mentor along with part-time coach Robby Ginepri, is pragmatic, yet optimistic about his son’s future. “I told him since they were little. Work hard and you can achieve your goal. He’s really doing it,’’ Frances Sr. said.
The proud father believes his son can sit atop the tennis mountain someday. “He can go as far as he wants,’’ he said. “I don’t think there’s anything going to stop him now.’’
Tiafoe nearly didn’t make it to the victory circle, after he forgot to sign up for Delray. He asked for a wild card two weeks ago, but didn’t get the go-ahead until just before his quarterfinal loss to Kevin Anderson Friday in the New York Open. He became the first wild card to win this tournament and the young- est American to notch his first ATP title since 19-yearold Andy Roddick in 2002.
Tiafoe finally e nded Gojowczyk’s domination of American players, snap- ping the German’s streak at 14, which included John Isner, Reilly Opelka and Steve Johnson this week. “I told you I was going to get him. All the (Americans) were texting me, ‘You got to take him out,’” said Tiafoe with a laugh.
Gojowczyk, 28, was hampered by a hamstring injury sustained during the second set of his semifinal win over Steve Johnson. He was unable to push off on his formidable serve or on his punishing groundstrokes. Gojowczyk had only been broken twice in 54 service games, but it happened four times Sunday as Tiafoe raced to a 5-0 lead.
Tiafoe persevered through tough matches against Juan Martin del Potro, Hyeon Chung and Denis Shapovalov. But he clearly toyed with a lame Gojowczyk in a lackluster final before cracking the last of his 13 aces to put him out of his misery.