Tiafoe has racket stolen while celebrating at – Sports News
Frances Tiafoe’s extraordinary French Open second-round victory over Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday ended with an sudden twist.
A fan within the crowd walked away together with his racket during the celebrations, prompting the American to take to social media to request its return and offering two tickets to his subsequent match as a reward.
When it was over, the nineteenth seed ran to the fence and into the group for a euphoric group celebration with supporters, taking his shirt off, pointing to his head and flexing his muscle groups.
What he didn’t instantly discover was that during that celebration, a feminine fan had audaciously reached in and swiped his Yonex racket proper from his hand earlier than slipping back into the group.
The theft solely grew to become obvious when Tiafoe was packing his bag and counted his gear. He had carried eight rackets onto courtroom and now had seven.
On the advice of his agent, he posted an appeal on Instagram Stories. “Unreal atmosphere on Court 14 today,” he wrote. “But I must say to the fan who took my racket at the end when I was celebrating with y’all… can I please have it back? I’ll bless you with two tickets for my next match.”
Tiafoe instructed the TNT commentary workforce afterward that he felt he would have “no chance” of recovering the racket if it had occurred within the United States, however that the Paris setting gave him confidence the fan would reply.
His intuition proved appropriate, as he later confirmed that he exchanged autographed gear for the return of the successful racket.
Tiafoe beat a high quality opponent in a match of real bodily endurance, successful 83 p.c of factors on his first serve, changing 4 of 11 break factors and sustaining his composure by two tiebreak losses to close out the fifth set.
Hurkacz struck more winners however produced too many errors when it mattered most.
Sinner, the heavy pre-tournament favourite who gained Roland Garros in 2025, was eradicated in a beautiful second-round defeat to Juan Manuel Cerundolo on the identical day, opening the draw significantly for these remaining. Tiafoe now faces Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria within the third spherical.
Reached the quarterfinals in Paris final yr, Tiafoe is building momentum at a match the place American males haven’t gained a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open.
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