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By Giri Nathan
[vc_empty_space height="15px"]Often, if not always, it goes this way: Frances Tiafoe sees a top player across the net and all the wrinkles in his game smooth themselves out. It’s as if the threat of a clearly superior player relaxes him, then reveals him for who he is: a charmer who draws on the infinite energies of his fans, until he looks indefatigable on the baseline and unpassable at the net. Cat-and-mouse points are his comfort zone. He does all his best work on a dead sprint. He might also tour for weeks without finding a good win to hang some confidence on. But he’s been reliable for a big-stage performance every few months, from his nerve-racking five-set loss to Roger Federer at the 2017 US Open to his wee-hours five-set win over Andrey Rublev at this year’s Open. Between those two bookends the kid from Maryland hasn’t enjoyed the surge in rankings that his many well-wishing fans might’ve hoped. But he is winding down the season in style.