Both played their first full Grand Slam season in 2017. Mumbai: Karen Khachanov and Frances Tiafoe, the two unlikely US Open semi-finalists by pre-tournament seedings, have plenty of parallels. Both are into their third Major semi-final. Both are yet to make a final.
Another striking resemblance followed their contrasting quarter-final victories. Even there, he asked the crowd to give it up for his injured opponent. Tiafoe wouldn’t leave his beaten opponent until he had gathered himself. His own moment of joy could wait. “It came already a couple of times. So this is a little moment of appreciation, and, at the same time, ambition and motivation for what’s coming next.”
After Alexander Blockx retired at 6-2, 7-5, 3-2 down on Wednesday, Khachanov engaged in a long chat with Blockx near the net before starting his own muted celebrations. Since 2017, Tiafoe hasn’t skipped a Slam. Because the tournament banned Russians from competing, khachanov missed only two Wimbledons (in 2022 and 2023), the first.
“This is what we have been dreaming of as a kid – to play in the further stages of these events, and that one day it can come,” Khachanov said after the quarter-final.
A day earlier, after Tiafoe pulled off a five-set heist on match tiebreak from two sets and a break down, he rushed to the net as Alex Michelsen buried his face on Tiafoe’s shoulders and wept.
That’s quite a turnaround for a player who came into this tournament on a four-match losing streak from Wimbledon. Yet, throughout that period, Khachanov kept training every day after those early exits. “You have to be ready always, and whenever the opportunity comes. “You can switch this moment. I want to keep going. I have higher hopes from myself.”
Or you create those opportunities, and you take them,” he told the ATP. “I’ll cherish those two forever, but I’m not that person anymore,” Tiafoe said. “I’m pumped about it, super excited about it, but I don’t feel like, “Oh my god”.
