What racket does Frances Tiafoe use?
Frances Tiafoe is one of the players drawing fresh eyes to the ATP Tour, and many want to know what racket he uses in competition.
Tiafoe’s racket of choice of currently the Yonex VCORE PRO 97 310 with the company supplying him for several years.
During his junior years and early years on the tour, Frances used a Wilson Blade 98, but for the most of his professional career, the Japanese company Yonex has been his racket sponsor.
Tiafoe has just broken into the top ten, but brands have been aware of his potential for quite some time.
Many reviews characterise the Duel G 97 as a cosy, crisp, and spinny racket frame. Its 16×20 string design contains shared holes, where one large grommet hole acts as route for both the main string and the cross string at the same time.
Tiafoe plays with a racket that is 16×19 due to the removal of the top cross string.
The stringbed stiffness is reduced significantly by eliminating the top cross, making the playing experience a little more forgiving, forceful, and spin-friendly.
Tiafoe has already attracted a few high-profile backers and is likely to get involved with more commercial partnerships.
His off-court affairs are primarily in the hands of global talent agency IMG, who also have a significant stake in several tennis tournaments.
As a junior player Tiafoe was sponsored by German apparel and shoemakers Adidas but since 2016 he has been signed to US-based sportswear powerhouse Nike.
Formerly favouring the Nike Air Zoom tennis show, Tiafoe switched to Naomi Osaka’s signature NikeCourt line during the 2022 season.
He sports timepieces from luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer whenever attending trophy ceremonies and other events.
After the retirements of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi and later Andy Roddick, a sameness has settled in at the upper strata of American men’s tennis but Frances Tiafoe has the potential to shake that up.
Grand Slam success has eluded a succession of serve bots trotted out by American tennis.
The American game is peculiar because of the prominent place collegiate sport holds in the United States, but that doesn’t completely account for the drop-off in success at Majors.
US Tennis has produced plenty of good players in the 21st century but none have really had the personality or appeal of their legends John McEnroe or Agassi.
Tiafoe is somebody who is already a shining example of the new American dream as the son of immigrants feeling civil war in Sierra Leone, he has worked tirelessly to become an established tour professional.
His game is a study in finding what works for you, with his forehand grip the best example of this.
Tiafoe has admitted that he just can’t hit on the forehand with a conventional grip.
A technical deficiency like that might stand in the way of a player with less determination.
Praised for his work ethic at just eigjt years old, Tiafoe stands out from the class when it comes to the next generation of US men on the ATP Tour not that the likes of Jenson Brooksby or Taylor Fritz don’t demand attention, but tennis has always loved its standouts.
On tour, Tiafoe has proved to be a tireless worker who has been involved in some highly entertaining matches and there seems to be more to come from the talented young man.
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