And the American tennis star is channeling one of his favorite athletes to power his incredible run.
A Prince Georges County, Maryland, native, Tiafoe has found support from the star of his hometown NBA team. Bradley Beal, a three-time NBA All-Star who’s spent his entire career with the Washington Wizards, was on site at Arthur Ashe Stadium for the 24-year-old’s stunning upsets of Rafael Nadal and Andrey Rublev — and he returned again for Tiafoe’s semifinal match Friday night.
Ahead of his blockbuster match against 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, Tiafoe sent some love back to DC’s beloved shooting guard. He was spotted wearing Beal’s Wizards jersey while warming up for Friday night’s match under the brightest of lights.
—Noah Levick (@NoahLevick)
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Beal and Tiafoe first met years ago, when a Wizards executive invited the recently-turned-pro to visit the team’s locker room after a game in DC. The 29-year-old basketball star has “always kept track with him ever since then,” he told ATPTour.com.
“That’s just kind of how DC is,” Beal said. “DC athletes, we have that special relationship with each other. We always reach out to each other and check-in. We support one another. We understand this is a true sports town and so we try to support each other’s teams and each other’s endeavors whether it’s on or off the field or court or whatever it is that we do.”
“It’s kind of crazy to see the success he’s had and seen his journey and being a guy from DC, that’s even [made it] much bigger,” he added.
Tiafoe is already the first American man to advance this far in the US Open since Andy Roddick advanced to the final in 2006. And should he survive Friday night’s marquee matchup against Alcaraz, he’ll have a chance to become the first man from the states to win his home grand slam in nearly two decades — and the first Black man to do it since 1968.