Tiafoe fund passes $1 million to help young tennis players pay for training, travel

Frances Tiafoe's charitable fund has raised more than $1 million in the three years since it launched, the American tennis player said. The Frances Tiafoe Fund supports tennis programs for young people in underresourced communities.

Tiafoe, 28, said he started the fund now rather than later in his career because his reach is wider while he is playing at a high level. "I think young players will know me more now," he said. "While I'm at my 'peak' and doing things on a high level, I wanted to inspire, to give back."

Ginny Ehrlich, CEO of the USTA Foundation, said Tiafoe is among the small number of active players who have opened a fund during their careers, and that he takes an active role in decisions about where donations go. The USTA Foundation, the charitable arm of the United States Tennis Association, administers the fund.

Ehrlich said the fund pays for college scholarships and smaller grants that help individual players prepare for college tennis. It also covers travel, equipment and training costs for young players who could not otherwise afford them, and it supports programs at tennis centers including the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland.

Tiafoe started playing tennis at that center at age 4. His father, who immigrated from Sierra Leone in 1996, worked there as head of maintenance. Tiafoe said the support he received from a team at an early age was essential to what followed. "It helped me believe it before I actually did it," he said. "You've got to have a big support system."

Tiafoe reached the U.S. Open semifinals this summer, his third trip to that round in five years. He said scholarships for tennis players have become harder to obtain as college athletic departments direct money toward football and basketball. "College is becoming the Wild, Wild West for sure," he said.

Jade Flores, a freshman at Allegheny College, received a scholarship from the fund and practiced with Tiafoe during this year's U.S. Open. "I was a bit nervous to meet him at first," Flores said after the session. "But he makes you feel like he's known you forever."

Ehrlich said Tiafoe wants young people who grew up in circumstances similar to his to have access to the same opportunities. Tiafoe said he plans to keep growing the fund. "There's always gonna be another kid to help," he said. "There's always going to be another club to bless."

The fund's total passed $1 million three years after its launch.