A few weeks before the U.S. Open, which starts next Sunday, August 30, in Flushing Meadows, New York, the current world No. 23 tennis player, Frances Tiafoe, and I hop on a call ahead of the Mubadala DC Open, in Washington, D.C.
This particular tournament marks the tennis tour’s annual return to the United States after a long stretch of European contests (which begin in April, after the Miami Open, and which famously include Roland-Garros and Wimbledon). It is also where the 28-year-old player—born and raised in Hyattsville, Maryland, about 35 minutes from the complex—feels most at home. He often and proudly champions the D.M.V. (what locals call D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) as such.
