Two names have made tennis news lately, one that’s still gaining recognition, and another that’s an all-time great. While Francis Tafoe is a rising star, Venue Williams is among the finest tennis players of all time in either men’s or women’s circles. Each has been in the news over the past few days as the tennis world’ anticipates the start of Wimbledon next month. A few days ago, Tafoe became only the third Black American to make the men’s top 10. That came on the heels of his third career ATP title in Stuttgart June 18. The 25-year-old’s achievement puts him in the company of the legendary Arthur Ashe and James Blake. At 25, Tafoe has been a professional since 2015. He cracked the Top 100 a year later, and his greatest achievement to date has been reaching the semifinals of the 2022 U.S. Open.
By contrast, Venus Williams at 43 has won seven Grand Slam titles in a magnificent career that many were saying at the tail end of 2022 was coming to an end. But instead Williams upset Camila Giorgi 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 June 19 at the Birmingham Classic. Two days after that win she was given a wild-card entry to Wimbledon. When she takes the court there, it will be her 24th appearance in the singles draw at the famed event, a tournament she has won five times. Still, Williams had plummeted all the way to 697th in the world rankings, and before defeating the 48th ranked Giorgi had not beaten a Top 50 player in almost four years. She last made the Wimbledon singles final in 2017, exactly 20 years after she made her Wimbledon debut.
The Tafoe story isn’t nearly as well known as the history of Venus and Serena Williams. His parents met in the United States after departing Sierra Leone, and had twins Francis and Franklin. His father began working at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in Washington, D.C. in 1999. Constant Tafoe worked extremely long hours, and would often take his young sons to work with him while his wife was working the night shift as a nurse.
Francis Tafoe eventually began to train at the center, developing into a top player who made his first major quarterfinal at the Australian Open in 2019. But it was three years later that Tafoe became a celebrity. His run to the U.S. Open semifinals attracted the attention of not only many on the tennis circuit, but athletes from MLB, the NFL and NBA who became part of his rooting circle. Now he is that rare commodity, an emerging Black male star in a sport that hasn’t had many of them. But he is also among the few Americans able to successfully compete on the ATP tour. Tafoe was joined this week in the Top 10 rankings by Taylor Fritz, making it in the first time in 11 years that two American men were jointly among the world’s best tennis players.
Unfortunately, Tafoe discovered rather quickly the amount of pressure that comes with a high ranking. Last Wednesday he failed to follow up on his prior victory, losing in the second round to fellow American Sebastian Korda 7-6, 6-3 at the Queen’s Club Championships in London. Korda is another emerging star, and will no doubt move up from 22 after beating the player ranked 10th. However Tafoe remains arguably the best bet of any American male to excel on Wimbledon’s grass courts when the famed tournament begins July 3.
The rise of the Williams sisters has been well chronicled, from numerous articles and media profiles to Will Smith’s Oscar-winning role portraying their father in the 2021 film “King Richard,” as well as the 2012 documentary “Venus and Serena.” Venus Williams trails only Serena in terms of major titles as a singles player, and in addition the duo has won 14 major doubles titles, compiling a 9-0 mark in Grand Slam doubles finals. Venus Williams also won a 2000 Olympic gold medal in singles, three gold medals with Serena in doubles, and teamed with different male partners to win two 1998 mixed doubles majors and the silver medal in mixed doubles at the 2016 Olympics. She’s been ranked number one in the world in both singles and doubles, one of the few players to accomplish that feat.
Plus, Williams was a pioneer in the battle to achieve pay equity for women players at major championships. Interestingly, it was once assumed she would retire before Serena, but instead she remains active while Serena has stepped away from tennis, though no one is 100 percent sure she’ll remain permanently retired. Certainly Venus Williams has nothing left to prove, but she continues to compete solely due to a love for the sport and a desire to show she’s not quite done just yet.
Francis Tafoe is still building his resume, though he already has a spectacular victory over the great Rafael Nadal among his accomplishments along with a brilliant effort last year in defeat to current number one ranked Carlos Alcaraz. Whether he can eventually duplicate the exploits of Ashe, who was not only a superb athlete but an important advocate and voice on many issues involving African Americans both inside and outside the spots universe, only time will tell. But he’s already made some impressive inroads and continues demonstrating tremendous potential for greatness.
