Frances Tiafoe may still be waiting for his first Grand Slam championship, but the up-and-coming American tennis star has already celebrated a meaningful career milestone.<\/p>\n
His Frances Tiafoe Fund, which supports tennis programs for young people in underresourced communities, recently passed $1 million in funds raised, only three years after its launch. It\u2019s unusual for athletes to start nonprofits early in their careers, but the 28-year-old says he didn\u2019t want to wait to start giving back because his impact would be greater now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think young players will know me more now,\u201d Tiafoe told The Associated Press. \u201cWhile I\u2019m at my \u2018peak\u2019 and doing things on a high level, I wanted to inspire, to give back. I wanted to be a man of the people because I was given so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiafoe, who made his third trip in the past five years to the U.S. Open semifinals this summer, first started playing tennis when he was 4 years old at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland. His father was the center\u2019s head of maintenance after immigrating from Sierra Leone in 1996.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just a kid who got a chance,\u201d said Tiafoe, adding that the support he received from his team at an early age was critical to his success.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helped me believe it before I actually did it,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have a big support system. You\u2019ve got to have people who believe in the vision before you do, who see you in a bigger place than you do so that they continue to push you. They hold you to a certain standard so you\u2019re able to go to work every day with an approach in hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ginny Ehrlich, CEO of the USTA Foundation, the United States Tennis Association\u2019s charitable arm which administers Tiafoe\u2019s fund, said Tiafoe is not just \u201cone of the few players\u201d who started a fund while still an active player, but is also hands-on in where and how its donations are made.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is so passionate about wanting to give back,\u201d she said, adding he wants young people who are growing up in situations similar to his to \u201chave that same access and opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tiafoe Fund provides college scholarships, as well as smaller grants to help individual players get ready for playing collegiate tennis, Ehrlich said. The fund also supports young players so they can pay for travel, equipment and training they would otherwise not be able to afford. And Tiafoe also supports programs at some tennis centers, including the Maryland center where he got his start.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so electric to have someone who walks the talk, right?\u201d Ehrlich said. \u201cIt\u2019s priceless, really, in terms of his impact. I don\u2019t mean impact in dollars, I mean impact on inspiring the next generation to achieve whatever their dreams are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiafoe said he is proud to be able to help in these ways, especially in a time where scholarships for tennis players are harder to come by as athletic departments prioritize money-generating sports like football and basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cCollege is becoming the Wild, Wild West for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think they\u2019re still stages for guys to give back and help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jade Flores, a freshman at Allegheny College, received a scholarship from the Tiafoe Fund and also got the chance to practice with Tiafoe during this year\u2019s U.S. Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a bit nervous to meet him at first \u2013 it\u2019s Frances Tiafoe,\u201d Flores said after the session. \u201cBut he makes you feel like he\u2019s known you forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiafoe said he wants to keep expanding the Tiafoe Fund as much as he can.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s just keep pushing and see where it goes,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s always gonna be another kid to help. There\u2019s always going to be another club to bless. There\u2019s gonna be a kid to take to college. So I don\u2019t want to put the caps on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
_____<\/p>\n
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP\u2019s philanthropy coverage, visit https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/philanthropy.<\/p>\n
Glenn Gamboa, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frances Tiafoe may still be waiting for his first Grand Slam championship, but the up-and-coming American tennis star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":951570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[45,49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-951569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/951570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}