AMERICAN Frances Tiafoe had an up and down season in 2019. His best result came at the Australian Open, where he made his first Grand Slam quarter final. He toppled top 20 players Kevin Anderson and Grigor Dimitrov to get there, before losing to number two seed Rafael Nadal in straight sets.

After this, things went downhill for Tiafoe. He failed to defend his title at the Delray Beach Open, losing to Great Britain’s Daniel Evans in the first round, and did not win more than one match at the following two tournaments. Tiafoe reached the quarter finals at the Miami Open, but at Roland Garros he had a tough five-set loss in the first round to Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic, while suffering from illness. At Wimbledon, he pushed 10th seed Fabio Fognini to five sets in an impressive first round showing, but struggled at the other grass court tournaments.

Tiafoe was better on hard courts, making the quarter finals at the Winston-Salem and European Opens. He finished the year with a second-round defeat at the US Open to German Alexander Zverev in five sets, and a semi-final berth at the Next Gen ATP Finals.

Overall, Tiafoe should be happy with his 2019 season. He finished the year ranked 47th with a win-loss record of 23-27, and reaching a Grand Slam quarter final is a great achievement for a 21-year-old. However, he remains heavily reliant on his forehand and athleticism to dominate matches, and must improve his backhand and second serve to progress further up the rankings. In 2020, Tiafoe should look to continue his impressive hard court form and have more consistent results at minor tournaments.