Frances Tiafoe has issued a response to Andy Roddick’s previous comments about his game.
The 27-year-old has struggled in 2025, but since the clay court season began, Tiafoe reached his first final of the year at the Houston Open.
Clay is not a surface that comes naturally to Tiafoe, but he found some form in Houston and he reached the round of 16 at the Madrid Open.
Frances Tiafoe is continuing to work on his game this season, and he is doing so following some comments from Andy Roddick.
What did Frances Tiafoe say about his game following Andy Roddick’s comments?
Back in October 2024, Roddick told Tiafoe how to improve a certain aspect of his game.
This came following his impressive American summer where he reached the Washington semi-finals, Cincinnati Masters final and the last four at the US Open.
“We were talking about it and listen, he makes the semi-finals at Washington, grinds out some matches, gets weeks where he’s winning matches consecutively and then gets to Cinci, has that breakout event,” Roddick said in ‘Served’ podcast six months ago.
“And I said to Frances, we both said the phrase at the same time, everything just slows down. The decisions become clear.”
During an appearance on The Changeover Podcast, Tiafoe was asked about those comments and admitted he agrees with what Roddick was saying.
“I saw Andy Roddick said that. For me you want the game to slow down for sure, but by that meaning, I don’t like to think when I am playing,” he said. “I am just doing. You want to go off instinct and doing the right thing.
“I like to take every second serve on, so if it’s 4-4, 30-30, I make a decision to stick to it. If I’m like I am going to nuke this backhand up the middle and look for a volley, if he passes me great, if he makes me hit a tough volley, get down and serve volley once again.
“It’s just to make the game simple, if this happens, you do this. If this happens you do this. I think rather than [thinking] maybe I should go back or just put balls in this point, I think the more confident you are in your decisions, then you just play off second nature. This is what I do and I will just live and die by the gun.”
Frances Tiafoe’s Madrid Open campaign comes to an end
Tiafoe missed the chance to reach the Madrid Open quarter-finals for the first time.
After securing victories against Luciano Darderi and Alexandre Müller, Tiafoe took on Matteo Arnaldi, who saw off Novak Djokovic in round two.
Tiafoe won their first meeting in what was a five-set thriller in the opening round of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.
But on the clay, it was the Italian’s day as he claimed a 6-3, 7-5 victory to move into the last eight in Madrid for the first time.
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