Frances Tiafoe was unable to use the advice that Bob Bryan gave him to great effect, as USA have now crashed out of the Davis Cup.
Tiafoe was the number two for USA’s tie against Czechia, after Ben Shelton, who was still in attendance, withdrew due to injury.
After a disappointing US Open, the world number 29 was hoping to find form again, but Tiafoe was beaten by Jiri Lehecka in the first rubber.
Taylor Fritz was also beaten by Lehecka, leaving Tiafoe with the burden of having to win the deciding match against Jakub Mensik.
What Bob Bryan told Frances Tiafoe during his defeat to Jakub Mensik
Former world number one and 23-time Grand Slam doubles champion Bob Bryan has been the captain of the USA’s Davis Cup team since March 2023.
Bryan has got to know Tiafoe well since then, and after the match he revealed what he told him after Mensik won the first set, 6-1.
“Look, our doubles guys kept Mensik on court for a few hours in the heat,” Bryan said in his post-match press conference. “That was a physical doubles match. I don’t care if it’s doubles or singles, that was a lot of time to be out there.
“Just kept telling Frances, ‘Hey, the guy’s playing well. Let’s just keep him on the court and see if we can wear him down, keep making the match physical. You never know what’s going to happen’.
“Frances sunk his teeth into the match in the second set, and, you know, and some of those points were starting to go our way. You could see Mensik, he was laboring, and he came up with the goods when he needed it.”
Although Tiafoe was able to make the second set much more competitive, Mensik still came out the victor, winning 6-1 6-4, to send USA crashing out of the competition.
What is next for Frances Tiafoe after USA’s Davis Cup exit?
Tiafoe has some big decisions to make after a relatively underwhelming North American hard court swing, culminating in two straight set defeats in Delray Beach in the Davis Cup.
The former top 10 player has already elected to pull out of the Laver Cup, a decision he made ahead of playing at the Davis Cup.
With only 160 ranking points to defend until 2026, it will be interesting to see whether Tiafoe takes Andy Roddick’s advice or instead decides to skip the rest of the season.
Tiafoe’s next scheduled tournament is at the Japan Open in Tokyo, where he is a former finalist, but lost in the first round last year.
He will then head to a tournament where he has less happy memories, with Tiafoe being forced to pay a big fine at the Shanghai Masters last year after using unsavoury language towards the chair umpire following his third round exit.
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