The 24-year-old told Daniela Hantuchova that he was “super emotional” after the win, speaking to Amazon Prime Video. “For someone who came up how I did and to be able to beat Rafa – I never thought in my career I would beat the top three so something to tell the kids, tell the grandkids that I beat one of them,” he beamed.
Tiafoe was also full of praise for his own performance, explaining how he managed to stay in the match even after dropping the second set and going a break down early in the fourth. He added: “I played pretty scary tennis, I just backed myself the whole time.
“I never really got too down on myself, even in the moments I got upset. Usually I’d spiral for two or three games but I just got back to it.” And h has been rewarded with a first-ever quarter-final appearance at the US Open, where he will face ninth seed Andrey Rublev.