Moyano on Tiafoe: 'He's never afraid of facing big moments'

After a successful stint with former World No. 6 Wayne Ferreira, Frances Tiafoe made a coaching change during the offseason. The American is now working with a new-but-old coach in Diego Moyano, who while working for the United States Tennis Association trained a teenage Tiafoe.

“Back in the day, we worked for four years, part time, doing around 10 to 16 weeks per year. Great competitor since he was young,” Moyano told ATPTour.com. “I met him when he was 12, 13, 14. So great competitor, amazing tennis IQ. He was talking tennis, we had dialogues when he was 13, 14, 15, pretty advanced dialogues about tennis.

“I love when the kids are interested in the stories about Laver, Rosewall, around the '70s, '80s, how tennis was transforming, what was happening with the different racquets. He always had that interest. It's amazing.”

Since their time together when Tiafoe was a junior, the charismatic player has surged to stardom. He famously upset Rafael Nadal en route to the 2022 US Open semi-finals and last year cracked the Top 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

“He's never afraid of facing big moments. He lives for that. He watches tennis. He knows everything, which was very difficult for example with Tommy [Paul]. Tommy didn't watch too many ATP matches until a certain age when he started to really get more into it,” Moyano said. “But Frances was already watching matches. He knew everyone, he knew the story of tennis. He loved to talk about game plans and stuff. Always would smile.

“The Frances that you see right now on the big stages, he was always like that. But in any practice court or any tournament, the first round of any tournament — Level 2, Level 3 — it didn't matter when, it was always with a smile and loving the battle. A great kid. Super. Amazing heart, super coachable. That was always him.”

While Tiafoe worked with coaches including Robby Ginepri and Ferreira, Moyano mentored Kevin Anderson and Coco Gauff among others. The Argentine explained that one of the perks of their reunion is that they never really were out of touch.

“We were always close. Even if we didn't work together after that time, we were always close and we kept in touch all the time. We were talking about tennis and I'm very, very happy for him where he reached last year,” Moyano said. “The year before when he beat Rafa and he made the semis at the US Open, I think that was a pretty good tournament. He beat really good players there in that tournament.”

Something that stood out to Moyano about that run was the aggression with which Tiafoe played. That is something they are working on now.

“I think I would like in general for him to be more aggressive. More aggressive, more intense on the court, more consistent in terms of his level of aggression. Maintaining that for a longer period of time. More solid, more accountable,” Moyano said. “I think we are in that process. Obviously it is going to take time. But that's where we're going. I would like him to be raising his intensity, being more aggressive. Not more aggressive necessarily by hitting winners, but more aggressive in terms of organising his game more, having the matches in his hands most of the time, and being more consistent.

“Using his physicality, his timing, to be on top, trying to dictate, trying to organise the matches, being the one who leads the matches and dictates the tempo and pace of the match. Obviously, the serve always I would like him to improve that.”

It is a full-circle moment for the tandem as they strive to reach new heights.

“Every coach throughout that career takes a piece of that process and you are part of that journey with that player,” Moyano said. “When that happens, you're happy and you try your best to put that little grain of sand there in their career.”

Most of all, Moyano is one thing: “I'm very, very proud of him.”