Tennis phenom Frances Tiafoe is still in awe whenever he rubs elbows with some of the biggest names in Hollywood.
“I’m sitting there and I say it in real time [to] whoever I’m with, like, ‘I’m taking shots with Taylor Swift,’’’ Tiafoe, 26, said during the Tuesday, January 7, episode of “The Pivot” podcast. “Granted, I’m … a Beyoncé guy, but at the moment, I was like, ‘Man, this is crazy.’”
Tiafoe and his girlfriend, Ayan Broomfield, attended the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Denver Broncos in November 2024, which Swift, 35, also attended to cheer on boyfriend Travis Kelce. After the game, the couples partied in a private suite and snapped a series of now-viral social media selfies.
“She’s the biggest star out here and then, you know, Trav and [Patrick] Mahomes [are] like, ‘Yo, we got to have you in KC.’ Them saying that is wild to me and they rolled out the red carpet for me,” Tiafoe recalled. “It’s crazy ‘cause playing tennis and people want to reach out and hang out and actually do stuff. Those are the things [that] are why you do what you do.”
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Tiafoe started playing tennis at the age of 3, going pro in 2015 when he turned 17. He won his first ATP title at the 2018 Delray Beach tournament, becoming the youngest American athlete since Andy Roddick to take home the trophy. Despite his accolades and achievements on the court, Tiafoe sees his career as something larger.
“It’s who I am and what I represent, like, people relating to you,” he said on “The Pivot” episode. “Like, a lot of people can see themselves in you [and] the energy I play with, the smile I have and I’m just a regular dude. Man, I’m just a dude from Maryland who loves tennis.”
Tiafoe explained that he also has “a lot of interests outside of just hitting the tennis ball.”
“You can feel that,” he continued. “I am who I am in every room. I’m not trying to put on for nobody else and people feel that.”
As his career took off, Tiafoe only realized the extent of his fame when he “beat [Rafael] Nadal” in the 2022 US Open tournament.
“I stepped into something different,” he added. “I went to the hotel that day, and the hotel was packed. Everybody [was] waiting for me … rather than when I checked into the hotel that day, they [were] like, ‘Oh, you here to watch the US Open?’ … It’s amazing how things can change like that.”
