In October last year, Frances Tiafoe parted ways with his coach, David Witt, following a largely disappointing campaign.
The American appointed Witt ahead of the US hard court swing in 2024, and reached the US Open semifinals with him, but the two split after failing to make deep runs at the biggest events in 2025.
Tiafoe then hired Mark Kovacs as his head coach, a physiologist and biomechanics researcher, to guide him into the 2026 season.
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With Kovacs in his corner, the 28-year-old made his first final in nearly a year at the Mexican Open, and reached the quarterfinals of the Miami Open.
The change has been fairly positive thus far, and one Tiafoe says was needed to fulfil his potential.
Frances Tiafoe reveals when he first called Mark Kovacs
Speaking on the ‘Changeover Podcast‘, Tiafoe said of Kovacs: “I talked to him in October. He already had a set thing to do something with Novak [Djokovic] in November.
“I was like, look, one of the main things I want to work on is my serve. He’s great with movement, mechanics, you know, fitness, whatever.
“And then he’s, you know, just super locked in with data and what have you. So, I was just like, I want to try to squeeze everything out of the lemon and, you know, max stats.
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“Always breaking down my serve, breaking out my movement, how can I move clean, how can I get more on my serve?
“And then, you know, breaking down the opponents, my weaknesses, their weaknesses, and so it was just getting super detailed, and I thought he was a guy for that. I was like, I don’t need a coach, I need a dog.”
Frances Tiafoe says he clashes with Mark Kovacs sometimes
While Tiafoe has produced some strong performances with Kovacs leading the way, the US star says they clash with their ideas sometimes.
“As tennis players, we have a big ego,” explained Tiafoe. “You need it. Everyone has got a chip on their shoulder, so yes, I’m trusting his leadership, but obviously, I see the game in a certain way too at times, and you have that back and forth.
“But I’m definitely doing a better job of kinda letting him like, try to go a different direction.
“Let me fully trust that, because we’re constantly tweaking myself, even my forehand takeback, trying to clean that up, we’re constantly doing things, but yeah, definitely do a better job of trust. But it ain’t easy at times.”
Tiafoe will now set his sights on the clay season, during which he made the quarterfinals of Roland Garros last year.
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