"It's going to pay off one day": Frances Tiafoe shares harrowing upbringing including sleeping on a massage table

America’s Frances Tiafoe has opened up about his journey of becoming a professional tennis player.

The former world number 10 was recently quoted in a report where he revealed how things panned out for him when he was a kid and how one quote from his father played a key role in giving him the motivation that was enough for him to become a professional tennis player.

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“I literally get picked up from school when I was working and me, my brother would tap the ball against the wall, kind of joke around,” he said. “We’d see the coaches tell the players some stuff. We go to empty court, try to mimic it, like whiffing serves and whatever, but we’re trying to do it.

“And then my mum calls us, like, ‘Hey I’m working overnight. You’re gonna have to stay at the tennis centre.’ So, we’re picking up trash, we’re lining the clay courts, we’re doing all this. And I always go to my dad and I’m like, ‘this is crazy.’ He said: ‘look, this is going to pay off one day.’

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“‘It’s going to pay off one day.’ And I was like, you know what? I’m going to be the guy who’s going to change that. And so, then that appreciation came. You know, anything that came my way I’m very appreciative because I know if he didn’t do that, we’re not having this conversation today.

“I mean then I’m just sitting there, sleeping on a massage table with my dad. If my dad’s sleeping in the bed at the tennis centre with my twin brother, I’m like, ‘I’m going to win the US Open one day, I’m going to be a pro.’”

The current world number 21 had a rather disappointing outing in the Miami Open where he was knocked out after losing in the round of 64 to Christopher O'Connell with a score of 7-5, 7-6. He is now set to take part in the ATP event in Houston where he will face Australia’s James Duckworth in the round of 16 on Thursday.

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