Francis Tiafoe faced a test in his first round at the U.S. Open.
And he passed.
Pushed to the brink by New York native Aleksandar Kovacevic, Tiafoe had to pull off a 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory in the first round at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
“It was pretty tough at the end,” Tiafoe admitted in an on-court television interview. “Once the roof closed, it got really muggy. It was really hard to breathe. I felt better midway through the fourth set.”
At Flushing Meadows, the natural ventilation roof was closed to deal with brief rain showers, and Tiafoe struggled with both the muggy conditions and the intense play of his rivals from Manhattan.
Kovacevic was making his U.S. Open debut at a Grand Slam tournament in his home country and he answered the challenge.
But Tiafoe ultimately emerged victorious.
Returning to the top 20, Tiafoe kept his cool and played well.
He is committed to winning the U.S. Open and becoming the first American player since Andy Roddick to reach at least the quarterfinals in consecutive years.
It was a tough first step in their quest for at least three consecutive winning quarters.
Tiafoe capitalized when Kovacevic gave him a slight chance in the 10th game of the first set, and the Prince George’s County, Md., native scored with a high overhead kick to win the first set.
Kovacevic then smashed a backhand long to give Tiafoe the second set.
Kovacevic took the lead in the third set.
He hit a stunning forehand winner down the line in the fourth game to bring the crowd to its feet.
But Tiafoe broke to lead 6-5 in the fourth set and then missed his first four match points before sealing it with the fifth.
As he slumped in his chair, leaned back, and placed a towel over his face, the feeling was more one of relief than celebration.
Tiafoe has had an up-and-down year but reached the final of the Cincinnati Open last week and returned to the top 20.
He will next face Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan in the second round of his 10th U.S. Open.
“I [awhile]”Ten years has flown by so quickly and I hope I can make it another 10 years,” Tiafoe said. “I remember being a little kid with a lot of dreams.”
It was a good outcome for Kovacevic, the son of immigrants.
His mother, Milanka, is from Bosnia-Herzegovina and his father, Milan Kovacevic, who worked at Columbia University, is from Belgrade, Serbia.
Kovacevic grew up on the Upper West Side and began playing at the Central Park Tennis Center at the age of five.
He attended Booker T. Washington Middle School and Beacon High School, where he was relegated to No. 3 doubles as a freshman.
But he trained in various locations around the city, including Harlem and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
At age 11, he attended an open tryout for the John McEnroe Tennis Academy, where he was selected by McEnroe out of 200 students and awarded a full scholarship.
He is currently competing in the U.S. Open, where he finished to a standing ovation from the crowd in celebration of his hometown man.
