Frances Tiafoe will have to wait until next year to try to win his hometown tournament again.
The Hyattsville, Maryland native and world No. 19 was beaten by Frenchman Terence Atmane 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an opening Round of 32 match Monday night at the Mubadala DC Open at Rock Creek Park in Washington.
Tiafoe had beaten Atmane, ranked 49th in the world, in all three of their previous career meetings — all of them this year — but couldn't get it done in front of a supportive local crowd. Atmane broke Tiafoe at love at 4-4 in the decisive third set, converting on a break point at the net to take control.
"I just felt off, making a lot of mistakes," Tiafoe said after the match. "Especially when he played high balls out of my range, I was missing a lot. Especially on my backhands, missed a lot of balls, backhands in the net, and long. I didn't find anything he did really different. Maybe moved his serve around a little bit more than he had in the other matches we played. Just poor from me. Really, really poor."
The final stats were fairly even, but Atmane won enough crucial points to break Tiafoe three times across the second and third sets.
This was Tiafoe's 10th appearance in the tournament he used to sneak into as a kid. His best finish was a semifinal run in 2024, and he's reached the quarterfinals three other times, including last year.
"I play every year, and I never performed how I have today," Tiafoe said. "I was flat. Just wasn't good enough. Give him credit, but I definitely helped him over the line."
Atmane, for his part, wasn't rattled by the partisan crowd.
"You know, they're here to see a battle; they're here to see a show," the Frenchman said. "That's what I'm always trying to do, to give a good show to every single person and to just to be myself at the end of the day. I knew in a way that he's going to have more expectation because it's his home tournament, and it's very important for him. The same way that French Open is very important for me. I was just trying to really stay focused because I knew that he could be a little bit more tight than usual because it's his hometown."
Tiafoe left the court disappointed — and aware of the moment he had missed.
"Especially for the year that I've been having," he said, "super-disappointing. That's all I can really say. I had a lot of high hopes. Yeah, this one hurts a lot."
He's not completely done in Washington yet. Tiafoe is scheduled to play men's doubles with partner Nick Kyrgios on Tuesday evening at Rock Creek Park, where they'll face Francisco Cabral and JJ Tracy.
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