Frances Tiafoe made a public plea for the return of his racket after it was taken during celebrations following his five-set victory over Hubert Hurkacz at the French Open. The American, seeded 19th, eventually triumphed 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 6-4 6-7(1) 6-4 after a gruelling four hours and 43 minutes on Court 14.
After sealing the win, Tiafoe hugged fans while holding his racket, but in the chaos it went missing. The 28-year-old later took to Instagram Stories to ask for its return, offering two tickets to his next match as a reward. He wrote: "Unreal atmosphere on Court 14 today. But I must say to the fan who took my racket at the end when I was celebrating with y'all. Can I please have it back? I'll bless you with two tickets to my next match."
His appeal worked quickly. Less than an hour later, Tiafoe confirmed that someone had responded and that a member of his team was collecting the racket. "My guy's going to go get it. They're going to go get it. Yeah, the DM, Brian, he's going to go get it. I gave a pair of shoes to Brian to go get it," he said.
Reflecting on the incident, Tiafoe explained how the racket slipped away. "Obviously I hugged him, and I hugged him with my racket in my hand, and then I was, like, my arm is getting stuck. Man, whatever. I need to go shake Hubi's hand and the ref's hand. And then I'm walking off the court and I was, like, Wait, hold on, hold on, I'm down a racket," he said. He added that he expected a positive outcome in Europe: "In the States I'm not getting the racket, but here, I was, like, I feel like in Europe, they love tennis so much, I think I'm gonna get it."
Tiafoe, who reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last year, now faces Portuguese qualifier Jamie Faria in the third round. His prospects have been boosted by the shock exit of top seed Jannik Sinner, who lost to Juan Manuel Cerundolo after leading by two sets and 5-1. Tiafoe revealed fans had been relaying the news during his own match. "Fans are saying that during the match. I'm, like, Goddamn. I'm already up two sets to one," he laughed.
