The Japan Open has so far seen four seeds crumble in the opening stages of the event. While four Americans have passed the first test, two of them have failed to step into the next stage. The highest American casualty has been Frances Tiafoe, who is the sixth seed at the event. Tiafoe lost his match against Aslan Karatsev as he squandered multiple chances in both sets.
The fans were supporting Tiafoe before the match, but Karatsev’s victory affected their emotions. The Russian was down 1-4 in the second set and was 0-4 in the tiebreak. But Tiafoe could not carry forward the lead as he lost the match in an hour and 39 minutes. “I think Frances let American media hype get to his head,” commented a fan in disappointment after watching the match.
@FTiafoe Frances needs to outgrow emotional need to be liked/cheered (therapy?), does well when big crowd cheers him, poor when quiet crowd, horrible when crowd boos him like last 2 Davis Cup losses (1-5 Davis Cup) w/ typical nasty mean ugly European crowd boos USA. Be a killer!!
— Fred Scheibe (@ScheibeFred) October 18, 2023
One fan felt that Tiafoe was overrated and commented “What ever happened to him? Remember the hype?.” The 25-year-old is currently on a five-match losing streak.
What ever happened to him? Remember the hype?
— BitcoinBadger (@bitcoin_badger_) October 18, 2023
Tiafoe has also played 13 doubles matches this season. He has won one match out of five in the second half of the season in doubles. It has been a challenging ride since the US Open for Tiafoe. There have been no reports of injury, but the dip in the form can clearly be seen.
Frances Tiafoe unable to win matches since the US Open
The 2023 US Open saw the return of the American players. Tiafoe was one of them, as he reached the quarterfinal while losing to Ben Shelton. But since then, the world No. 14 has failed to win a single match on the ATP tour. He won the singles match at the Laver Cup against Hubert Hurkacz. Tiafoe also secured two victories in doubles at the Laver Cup.
After the US Open, the American played two Davis Cup matches and ended up losing both. In the second match against the Netherlands, Tiafoe was involved in a racket-smashing controversy, which ended the match. At the Shanghai Masters, he lost to Lorenzo Sonego in the opening round. The match went on for two hours, and Tiafoe ended up hitting eight winners while Sonego hit 31 winners.
Solid win @SH_RolexMasters for Lorenzo Sonego. Upsets 10th seed Frances Tiafoe i9n a rain interrupted match, 26 62 63 to reach 3rd round pic.twitter.com/yCzU3F9p0z
— TopSeed Sports Management (@TopSeed_Mgmt) October 8, 2023
Tiafoe is ranked 15th in the qualification for the Nitto ATP Finals. Given his current form, it is unlikely that he will qualify for the event. The No.2 American needs to end his losing streak on tour as it’s high time to collect points for the season-ending championship. Tiafoe only has a few weeks left to figure out what is missing in his form as the season comes to an end.