Frances Tiafoe looked forward to treating himself to a lavish meal after dumping French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas out of the first round of Wimbledon.
The American, ranked 57 in the world, registered the best win of his career, sending the third seed packing with a dominant 6-4 6-4 6-3 victory on Court One.
Tiafoe won a low-level warm-up event in Nottingham before reaching the Queen’s quarter-final and he was just too good for his opponent, serving with precision and dominating at the net.
And his first thoughts were of upgrading his dinner options.
“It is like eating from a bowl kind of,” he said. “It’s more so, the more matches you win, the better you do, the better the meal is.
“I’m out here trying to eat. Steak dinners aren’t going to pay for themselves, nice dinners aren’t going to pay for themselves. You got to perform and you got to win.”
Tiafoe showcased all of his talent during his win, producing the shot of the day in the first set when, chasing a lob, he hit an unbelievable passing winner down the line.
He said: “I’m like, ‘Man, I’m running back’. I was like, ‘If I lob it up, I’m probably going to hit the ceiling with the roof. If you miss it, it’s 15-30. Screw it. See what happens’. Nailed it. Went in.
“Actually, when I turned back, I was like, ‘Damn, I overcooked it’. Thought it was going to go a little bit long. Hit the line. I got the crowd into it again. Bombed the serve.”
For Tsitsipas it was another struggle at Wimbledon as he went out in the first round for the third time in four visits.
It was just 15 days ago that the Greek lost the French Open final to Novak Djokovic, having been two sets up, and he admitted to not being fully motivated.
“There have been times that I was much more motivated than this. But that’s no reason for me not to play well,” he said.
“The conditions are the same for each single player. The bubble makes it really tiring week by week.
“It’s certainly very difficult when you know mentally you’re going to go from one bubble, being in that bubble two-and-a-half weeks, maybe even more than that, like close to a month, to be honest.
“Just like two weeks later you still have to undergo the same procedure and the same thing again.
“It’s just not easy. It’s a challenge on its own already. But I don’t want to put emphasis to that too much. We had a match today, had my opportunities.
“My opponent played much better, significantly better, than me. There wasn’t the drive that I was hoping for. There wasn’t that same fighting spirit that I usually put out on the court.”
I’m out here trying to eat – Frances Tiafoe eyes tasty reward for Wimbledon win - Yahoo Sports
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