Young American tennis players share immigrant roots
MELBOURNE — If the parents of Frances Tiafoe, Michael Mmoh and Stefan Kozlov didn’t choose to come to America the three talented teens wouldn’t be representing the stars-and-stripes as they chase international tennis stardom.
They all achieved a career high junior ranking of No. 2 in the world before moving onto the pros and are among the most talked about — and youngest — names in the conversation of who could be America’s next great champion.
Translation: The search continues for the first Yank to deliver a Grand Slam singles title to the country since Andy Roddick did so at the 2003 U.S. Open.
Tiafoe, 18, the only first generation American of the trio, was born in Maryland where his parents, Sierra Leone natives Frances Sr. and Alphina, settled. On Sunday, the 108th-ranked Tiafoe qualified into the main draw of the Australian Open.
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Mmoh, 19, was born in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, where his father, Tony, a former ATP ranked No.105 player from Nigeria, was a teaching pro. The 197th-ranked Mmoh earned passage into the Australian Open by winning the USTA Pro Circuit Australian Open Wildcard Challenger.
Kozlov, 18, was born in Macedonia before the family moved to South Florida, where his father, Andrei, operates his own tennis academy. The 120th-ranked Kozlov suffered an offseason marred by the flu and lost in the first round of qualifying in Melbourne.
It’s Tiafoe’s assessment that their similar immigrant backgrounds quickly deepened their friendship. They all come from a world where the younger generation is expected to take full advantage of the sacrifices made to present them with better opportunities for the future.
“I think we’ve bonded even more than a lot of the other players,” Tiafoe said. “We have the same personality, the same upbringing. Obviously, we were growing up with parents that didn’t have, so they want nothing but the best for us. They made sure we’re humble, properly brought up and I think that’s why we’re all good kids and respectful.”
By pure happenstance, tennis became the focal point of Tiafoe’s life because his father found a job constructing the famed Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md., and stayed on as the facility’s Head of Maintenance. The minute young Frances watched the game he was smitten, and when his passion and prodigious potential surfaced, the club allowed him to train at their expense.
Knowing how hard his parents worked to become valued members of American society, Tiafoe finds the current wave of anti-immigration sentiment growing in the U.S. disturbing.
“I don’t think our priority should be on immigrants,” he said. “Obviously, they come to the States for a better life, so the last thing they want to do is rob a bank or do something bad. My parents were hardworking and still are. Everything I do is for them and the family.”
Mmoh was gifted with a global outlook from the time he was in the womb. His father, a Nigerian-born naturalized American, is a business owner in Atlanta. His mother, Geraldine, holds dual citizenship in Ireland and Australia, and recently moved full-time to Australia.
This visit for the Australian Open is something of a homecoming for Mmoh, who carries an Australian passport as well as his American credentials.
“I was watching the Aussie Open as a kid and it was my first major tennis event I watched (in person) when I was like 6 years old,” Mmoh said. “We’d just go here every Christmas as we have relatives in Melbourne.”
Despite the fondness for Australia, however, Mmoh remains a tried-and-true American.
“I’ve been playing for the States my entire career,” Mmoh said. “The USTA supports me a lot and I like all the coaches, and I like the entire organization and feel they support me really well.
“There’s no other country I’d play for,” he added, emphatically.
Tiafoe and Mmoh will be vying for their first career Grand Slam match victories when on Tuesday they play Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan and 25th seed Gilles Simon of France, respectively.
It’s the first important step of the year for both, who are hoping the season culminates with qualification into the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held in Milan, Italy, Nov. 7-11. The event mimics the eight-man, year-end ATP Finals, but is exclusively for the 21-and-under set.