By Baltimore Sun
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Frances Tiafoe finished last season looking for a fresh start. It had been a decade since he turned pro, and despite flashes of brilliance and occasionally deep tournament runs, he’d found himself stalling and skidding through 2025.
So he overhauled his approach.
Tiafoe skipped most of the Asian and European competitions that round out the annual tennis calendar. He used the autumn to find a new coach and start a new practice regimen. And rather than relocating or heading somewhere warm, Tiafoe went home to Maryland, training for roughly six weeks at the facility where he discovered the sport as a child in College Park: the Junior Tennis Champions Center.
He sometimes brought a very recognizable hitting partner.
Ben Shelton also spent time in the D.C. area this offseason. He is dating Washington Spirit star Trinity Rodman. Over the past few years on the ATP Tour, 23-year-old Shelton and 28-year-old Tiafoe have been competitors, but they’ve also grown into a friendship. It only made sense that Shelton joined Tiafoe at JTCC on multiple occasions.
The two elite talents blended into the ordinary hum of the surrounding courts. “It’s a treat to have two players of that level, practicing in front of all of our kids and members,” says JTCC CEO Martin Blackman. “It was really special.”
The pair will play again this weekend on a somewhat bigger stage.
