Frances Tiafoe is not letting the huge excitement concerning Serena Williams impact his run at Wimbledon.
Tiafoe is instead focusing on his own efforts at the All England Club in London, where he has just reached round two.
The American defeated Terence Atmane 7-6(8-6), 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in his opening match, and now meets Jan Choinski in round two.
Meanwhile, WTA legend Williams was beaten in her opening match in singles, although she still has a doubles match to look forward to.
But all of the noise surrounding her Wimbledon comeback after four years is not getting in the way of her fellow American Tiafoe.
Frances Tiafoe not distracted by Serena Williams noise at Wimbledon
Sharing his relationship to all of the chaos in the first week of a major championship, he told Tennis Channel: “For me just, I mean, obviously you have excitement, everyone’s super optimistic, you know.
“But the biggest thing is just I’ve been playing Slams about 10 years now, like I’m just, at this point I’m worried about me.
“Serena… we understand who she is. She’s the greatest… one of the greatest athletes, not male or female, one of the greatest athletes of all time. You know there’s going to be a lot of excitement about her.
“You know, me coming in winning Halle, going to be excitement about me. All the American guys.
“You kind of know what that’s like, but ultimately, you know, I hate to say, it’s pretty irrelevant. It doesn’t matter other than taking care of the guy in front of you.
“I’ve been living by this: ‘Just be where your feet are’. And that’s the only way you can kind of move forward.”
Is Frances Tiafoe under increased pressure at Wimbledon?
As Tiafoe mentioned, he entered Wimbledon in the perfect way by claiming the title at the Halle Open in Germany.
During his superb week, he beat the likes of Flavio Cobolli and Felix Auger-Aliassime before a final win over Taylor Fritz.
While that run will have done wonders for his confidence, particularly on grass, it may have increased the pressure on his shoulders.
As he also alluded to, American men are constantly under the spotlight at Grand Slams given their remarkable drought.
Shockingly, Andy Roddick remains the last such player to achieve that feat with his US Open success in 2003.
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Tiafoe is among the players looking to bring that nightmare run to an end at Wimbledon, alongside the likes of Fritz and Tommy Paul.
Worryingly, however, arguably their biggest chance of success beforehand is already out, with Ben Shelton falling in the first round of Wimbledon.
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