- What's good GQ.
This is Frances Tiafoe and these are my essentials.
[mellow instrumental music]
This right here, my tennis racket, my Yonex tennis racket
best racket in the game I think.
Super flexible, I got power, finesse and all that.
So it puts the money in the bank account.
So I'm happy to be a part of this brand,
it's one of the best brands out for sure.
Yeah, I've been using this racket since 2017 since I was 19,
and yeah, it's been a great partnership since.
Yeah, they made a perfect racket for me and, you know
hopefully we have longevity.
When I was a freshman,
I was trying a bunch of different rackets
to see which one I was really gonna like
and try to stay with for a long time,
so it was definitely a little bit of a process
but I think this is a great racket.
I think a lot of younger guys are using it now,
which is pretty cool and I'm happy to be a part of that.
You know, my dad was a maintenance worker
at a tennis academy, helped build the tennis academy.
That's pretty much how I was introduced to the game.
Super lucky that that happened.
Obviously me and my twin brother,
we were introduced to the game at a super young age
and fell in love with the game pretty much right away.
You know, my dad would take little rackets
and hold our hands and we hit a ball against the wall
and me and my brother would play against each other
and it kind of became like a little family thing.
These are my match tees.
I brought a couple,
because no one sweats like me on the tour.
We going through like 12, 13 shirts a match.
Yeah, it gets pretty gross but shout out Nike
for always supplying me with as much as I need.
These shorts, super comfortable, and yeah.
I mean, it's an unbelievable brand and yeah,
they've been showing me love for some years now.
I'm gonna remember this outfit for a while.
Best run I've ever had in this outfit.
So hopefully I can wear it for a bit longer.
Oh, I was talking about it with my agent earlier today,
it hasn't really sunk in, I mean so much happened since.
It's been unbelievable to see
all the impact that happened around it,
all the buzz and how excited everyone was about it.
We got some more work to do to finish the job next time.
Yeah, having Michelle Obama
at the last match was unbelievable.
Her staying the whole time, you know, past midnight,
waiting to talk to me after the match,
and even her posting me on Instagram the other day
I was going crazy, and stuff like that means so much to me.
I mean, you can't even put that in words.
So it's just been an unbelievable two weeks,
and I'm gonna remember that for the rest of my life.
Beating someone like Rafael
definitely changed my whole mindset
of how I see myself as a player,
and how I approach the biggest events in the world.
they've been winning and winning
and winning for so many years.
And you know, we're looking at them
like they're super human and to beat them
in the biggest stage that we have was unbelievable
for me going forward, you know to believe
I can really take the next step and really win these events
and be one of the best players in the world consistently.
Yeah. I mean, that was a big honor.
Yeah, when I shook his hand
I didn't even really know what to say to him.
I was kinda like mumbling and stuff.
He said congrats,
but I didn't even know what I said to him,
I was so not even in his planet.
Yeah. But hopefully we have
a couple more battles before he calls it.
Well, this one my girlfriend gave to me
for Christmas one time, so you can't take that off,
you know that's fighting words right there.
You don't wanna deal with that.
But as far as these, locked in, one of my mentors,
head of the university of Maryland football,
that's his hashtag #lockedin.
We kinda I guess always live by that,
'cause stay locked in, stay in the moment.
Don't look behind you or in front of you,
just stay in the moment.
Phil Handy, assistant coach of the Lakers,
he's got this brand Deuce
where he makes a bunch of wristbands and stuff.
'Why not me? Believe'
And then he's got his famous hashtag 'be your own goat.'
So pretty much be better
than who you were, you know, yesterday.
So I look at these during the matches
and try to just get me pumped up and stay on my morals.
If I had a wristband I had to make it for myself,
probably just maybe like 'be you', something super simple.
I think a lot of people try to be someone they're not.
The best thing you can do is just be you
and just try to just keep enhancing yourself
and not try to be somebody else to get somewhere else.
Yeah. So this Big Foe necklace right here
got a little tangled, but it's all good.
My dad gave it to me earlier this year
and he was like, yeah, you need to rep yourself,
You need back yourself.
And know that you're the one,
and you gotta let everybody know who you are,
so wear it around your neck.
They got a lot of headway during this run too.
All the fans, you could call me Big Foe,
but everyone knows that Big Foe finally arrived now.
So I always wear it constantly.
Well, except now but [laughs]
I always usually wear it.
The nickname came out through friends when I was younger,
talking about potentially going to college
and if we played for the Georgia Bulldogs.
And my friend like made a joke, dude, like they
would call you Big Foe [hoots]
like you know how they're dogs.
So, and then kind of stuck.
And then he kept calling me Big Foe,
and then I came up with the hashtag
'Big Foe on the come up'
and then kind of just left it at that.
My dad's a huge influence in my life.
Not only how he got me into the game,
but just teaching me the importance of hard work
and what success really means,
opportunity meeting preparation.
He's just always pushing that message kind of just
you know, nothing's given, everything's earned.
You gotta put the time in if you really want anything.
And sometimes, you know, success may not show up
for you know, years and years,
but you gotta be ready when it's your moment.
And yeah, he's a big inspiration for me.
Man. The Jergens lotion, man.
This is probably like the most important thing.
Obviously I'm black.
I can't be ashy out here. [laughs]
So I gotta lather up after every time I shower,
wake up in the morning.
Yeah. I like to feel moisturized.
I like to have my palms nice and moist and soft.
My mom always as a kid, like if you left the house
and you didn't put lotion on,
she yelling at you at the car,
get your back ass in the house and put the lotion on.
So yeah, this stuck with me for years, man.
So this is a key essential right here.
Man, those towels.
I'm using probably an easy 20 towels a match.
Like I'm glad they got unlimited in the back
'cause I'm abusing those.
Especially with a lotion right before,
'cause my hands, soon as I start sweating,
it gets everything moist.
So just constantly pattin' it down.
Obviously you're kind of used
to playing with a little sweaty now but.
Not the most ideal thing to do before you play,
but it's gotta be done.
Then my Nike Jordans.
Man, I'm a big Jordan 1 guy, rock 'em all the time.
These ones go crazy with one of my favorite fits.
So yeah, these Colorways are fire obviously.
So yeah, these one of my favorite Jordan 1s.
I do like my sneakers.
I didn't bring many this trip,
but I'm a big sneaker head, Jordan 1s especially man.
I try to cop as many as I can.
It was a huge trend in the NBA
so yeah, collecting sneakers is kind of like,
it just comes with the culture I feel like.
You're watching the game, you seeing what's on the feet
and yeah, you gotta use it in your everyday life.
Yeah, right now I got the mochas on right now.
Yeah, these guns also crazy, so yeah.
I'm this big Jordan 1 fan and yeah,
you gotta always have 'em on your feet.
Uh, I ain't that flexible. [laughs]
Yeah, so this right here, the Gucci bag.
Shout out Gucci for the gift.
When you going through airports and stuff like that
you want to be a little swaggy, get some drip with you.
I didn't have that before.
I was definitely rocking
with a [chuckles] raggedy ass bag before this.
So I'm happy to have this.
The wallet as well.
Super easy, slip everything right in here.
Keep it light and yeah.
I mean, put a bunch of different things in here.
Laptops, passports, anything you kind of need
and have some drip while you're doing it.
And you definitely know you walk outside looking good.
But yeah, I think obviously you're doing it
for the compliments and people are like,
oh, you know that Gucci bag, where'd you get it.
Yeah, I'm just happy to have it.
The wallet came with it yeah.
So they showed love with both.
So I'm gonna be looking good these next few weeks.
All right, so this is a Beats Pill.
Yeah. I like to travel a lot.
I need my music. I love music.
I love loud music.
So that's why I definitely need it.
A lot of Afrobeats lately, obviously rap.
I'm pretty diverse in music, but yeah,
those two are probably my favorite genres.
I mean I use it definitely in the morning to wake up.
'Cause I'm not a morning person at all.
Before matches you gotta be loud and energized for sure.
And even in the workouts,
not so much when I'm playing tennis practicing,
but you know if I'm in the gym.
Yeah, this Beats Pill in there going crazy.
I've been listening a lot of Lil Baby.
Lil Baby song Frozen, Lil Baby song Right On,
Lil Baby song In A Minute,
Baby Keem, Kendrick Lamar Family Ties.
Last probably one is Burna Boy Last Last.
The Supreme Mophie charger.
I'm on my phone a lot.
I'm always texting people on Instagram,
so my phone will be dying all the time.
So these come in definitely clutch.
Keep my phone alive.
Especially agents and family trying to get ahold of me.
I can't be having my phone dead.
So these are huge, man.
You gotta save with some juice.
During Wimbledon IMG House
they were givin' a bunch of gifts to their clients
and they blessed me with this one.
So yeah, so they showed love.
On my phone a lot, classic millennial
just on their phone all the time,
just checking Instagram, Twitter, all that stuff.
I'm not on the TikTok game, but yeah.
I'm just always on the phone texting and just FaceTime.
I'm a FaceTime king.
So the Clif bar, I definitely need these.
I mean, matches are super long,
You don't wanna not be eating anything.
This is my favorite flavor,
the white chocolate Macadamia nut tastes really good.
And yeah, you can play for four plus hours,
so you wanna definitely have something in your system
and keep the energy up so yeah.
Clif bars been good to me so far.
Just a small nibble as you go along,
so something's in your system constantly.
And with the Clif bar keeps my energy,
just solid all the way through.
I tried a bunch of bars.
It just wasn't really doing it for me.
But as soon as I got with this one,
I was like, okay, so we're locked in now.
Like this is pretty solid.
That's my essentials.
I hope you got to learn a little more about me.
Peace out.