For years, American men’s tennis has been in eclipse. No grand slam singles champion since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open, not even a semi-finalist since Roddick’s 2009 Wimbledon final.
Finally, though, new talent may be on the way. Francis Tiafoe, a 16-year-old prodigy, is being hailed as the next big thing and reports last week suggested Jay-Z, the American hip-hop mogul, is set to sign the teenager as a client of his new sports agency.
Sceptics might dismiss the Jay-Z/Tiafoe link as US hype – a common enough occurrence. Remember Donald Young? Many do not.
But those who have watched Tiafoe in action seem convinced he is a rising star.
In October, he became the youngest player to win the prestigious, 18-and-under Orange Bowl, an event that counts Roger Federer, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Roddick among its champions.
Then, as Bill Ackman, Tiafoe’s billionaire benefactor, told Business Insider last month, Tiafoe has “a very compelling life story”.
The son of immigrants from Sierra Leone, Tiafoe was a toddler when his father found work as a labourer at the construction site of a tennis centre in Maryland. Once the centre was complete, his father was retained as a maintenance man and their home was a small storage closet on the site.
The job allowed Tiafoe to get free lessons and bypass the US$40,000-a-year (Dh147,000) fees.
It reads like a rags-to-riches Hollywood script and American fans are hoping more chapters remain to be written.
arizvi@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
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The biog
Born: near Sialkot, Pakistan, 1981
Profession: Driver
Family: wife, son (11), daughter (8)
Favourite drink: chai karak
Favourite place in Dubai: The neighbourhood of Khawaneej. “When I see the old houses over there, near the date palms, I can be reminded of my old times. If I don’t go down I cannot recall my old times.”
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
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Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.