Tennis News: Frances Tiafoe shouts out Tony Goldwyn, Grigor Dimitrov stays classy

Frances Tiafoe is through to his second semifinals at the US Open and playing well enough to win. In the semis, he will face fellow American Taylor Fritz which means for the first time since 2006, an American man will be a finalist in New York. But one talent that Tiafoe seems to have is unique.

It is one thing for fans to watch the tennis players on the court, but quite another for a player to be watching them. This is what Tiafoe appears to do at an extremely high level. If he sees a famous person, he remembers it later on. Sure, the American is focused on the court - he is in the semifinals in New York, after all - but maybe it helps him relax when he sees a familiar face.

But Tiafoe doesn't just stop with noticing someone because he will talk about it later. In his post-match press conference after his victory over Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals, the American mentioned seeing Roger Federer in a fan box and said, "The way he looked in the suite was the same way he looked when he was playing. No sweating. T-shirts ironed perfect, hair perfect. What’s up with this dude, man?" Funny.

Frances Tiafoe notices faces in the crowd and Grigor Dimitrov gives the correct people credit

In his on-court post-match interview, Tiafoe brought up actor Tony Goldwyn who was in the stands watching the match. The camera panned to Goldwyn who had to be as surprised as anyone that he was suddenly being brought up by the winner of an important tennis match.

The American said, "Tony Goldwyn was in the house. I'm a huge fan of you, bro. Me and my girl used to watch Scandal all the time. I'm a huge fan, brother."

Tiafoe is known as one of the nicest players on the ATP tour. This is likely due to the fact that he stays grounded and can fan out just like the rest of us.

Another nice guy is Tiafoe's quarterfinal opponent, Dimitrov. He has remained one of the most well-liked players by both fans and players because he comes across as so genuine. Some players - here is looking at you, Casper Ruud - after a loss might talk about how they lost the match versus the other player winning it. Dimitrov does not do that. He gives credit where credit is due.

In his post-match press conference after being forced to retire due to an injury in the fourth set against Tiafoe, the Bulgarian was asked about his physical condition. Dimitrov answered the question and said he needed to work better on getting in form, but ultimately, Tiafoe won the match and should have won.

Dimitrov said, "I don't want to discredit the match that also Frances played. I mean, he also pushed me a lot to try to work extra, so, I mean, definitely deserves the credit. Yeah, we're moving forward."

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