What does it take to still be competing at the top of your game as you prep for the 2026 US Open, kicking off its singles main draw on August 30?
For Frances Tiafoe, a DMV (Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia) native and quite arguably one of the best to ever pick up a tennis racket, it all starts before he even hits the courts.
Growing up playing at Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland (where his father was the head of maintenance after migrating from Sierra Leone in 1996), he learned early on that tennis keeps moving whether you’re ready or not. Because, quite frankly, when it’s just you and one opponent across the net, what else are you going to do? You show up ready, or you don’t show up at all.
That lesson has followed him into this year’s tournament, where he applies that same discipline to food now, thinking about what he eats the same way he thinks about a match.
“It’s massive,” Tiafoe told EBONY of nutrition’s role in his prep. “That’s been something that’s been really big for me the last few years, especially this year. You eat better, you feel better. You’re more optimal in competing, and playing, and training. Your energy levels are much better.”
He broke it down using a car as the example.
“You’re not gonna put terrible gas in a nice car,” he said. “You’ve gotta treat it right… That’s kind of what you’ve got to think of it as.”
His day-of routine is simple: he eats salmon and rice a few hours before he plays, and then closer to match time, he has a CLIF Bar. This has become part of his ritual (especially now that he has a partnership with the brand) and helps him manage the physical demands of playing at night.
“I get pretty hungry right before I play,” he said. “If I don’t have that right before, I feel like I’m going…
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Read Full Article by Kimberly Wilson at www.ebony.com
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