Young U.S. players bond over background
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA If the parents of Frances Tiafoe, Michael Mmoh and Stefan Kozlov didn’t choose to come to America, the three talented teens wouldn’t be representing the Stars and Stripes as they chase international tennis stardom.
They all achieved a career high junior ranking of No. 2 in the world before moving on to the pros and are among the most talked about — and youngest — names in the conversation of who could be America’s next great champion.
Translation: The search continues for the first U.S. man to deliver a Grand Slam tournament singles title to the country since Andy Roddick did so in the 2003 U.S. Open.
Tiafoe, 18, the only first-generation American of the trio, was born in Maryland, where his parents, Sierra Leone natives Frances Sr. and Alphina, settled. On Sunday, 108th-ranked Tiafoe qualified into the main draw of the Australian Open.
Mmoh, 19, was born in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, where his father, Tony, an ex-player from Nigeria who was No. 105, was a teaching pro. Mmoh, who is ranked No. 190, earned passage into the Australian Open by winning the USTA Pro Circuit Australian Open Wildcard Challenger.
Kozlov, 18, was born in Macedonia before the family moved to South Florida, where his father, Andrei, operates a tennis academy. Kozlov, No. 120, suffered an offseason marred by the flu and lost in the first round of qualifying in Melbourne.
It’s Tiafoe’s assessment that their similar immigrant backgrounds quickly deepened their friendship. They all come from a world in which the younger generation is expected to take full advantage of the sacrifices made to present them with better opportunities for the future.
“I think we’ve bonded even more than a lot of the other players,” Tiafoe said. “We have the same personality, the same upbringing. We were growing up with parents that didn’t have, so they want nothing but the best for us. They made sure we’re humble, properly brought up, and I think that’s why we’re all good kids and respectful.”
By happenstance, tennis became the focal point of Tiafoe’s life because his father found a job constructing the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md., and stayed on as the facility’s head of maintenance. The minute Tiafoe watched the game he was smitten. When his passion and prodigious potential surfaced, the club allowed him to train at its expense.
Knowing how hard his parents worked to become valued members of American society, Tiafoe finds the wave of anti-immigration sentiment in the USA disturbing. “I don’t think our priority should be on immi- grants,” he said. “Obviously, they come to the States for a better life, so the last thing they want to do is rob a bank or do something bad. My parents were hardworking and still are. Everything I do is for them and the family.”
Mmoh was gifted with a global outlook from the time he was in the womb. His father, a Nigerian-born naturalized American, is a business owner in Atlanta. His mother, Geraldine, holds dual citizenship in Ireland and Australia and recently moved full time to Australia.
This visit for the Australian Open is something of a homecoming for Mmoh, who carries an Australian passport as well.
“I was watching the Aussie Open as a kid, and it was my first major tennis event I watched (in person) when I was like 6 years old,” Mmoh said. “We’d just go here every Christmas as we have relatives in Melbourne.”
Despite the fondness for Australia, however, Mmoh remains a tried-and-true American.
“I’ve been playing for the States my entire career,” Mmoh said. “The USTA supports me a lot, and I like all the coaches, and I like the entire organization and feel they support me really well.
“There’s no other country I’d play for,” he added, emphatically.
Tiafoe and Mmoh will vie for their first career Grand Slam match victories Tuesday when they play Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan and 25th seed Gilles Simon of France, respectively.
It’s the first important step of the year for both, who are hoping the season culminates with qualification into the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held Nov. 7-11 in Milan. The event mimics the eight-man, year-end ATP Finals but is exclusively for the 21-and-under set.