After his marathon four-hour loss to Frances Tiafoe on Aug. 30, Ben Shelton spoke warmly of his good friend Big Foe.

“You’ve got to be happy for a guy and congratulate, especially a guy like him when he’s playing the way he’s playing,” Shelton said.

Pressed about what he meant by “a guy like that,” Shelton said he meant it as a compliment.

“How good of a guy he is, always smiling, not really ever a negative look on his face. One of those guys that’s fun to be around in the locker room. You know, he’s always cracking jokes. Even when I beat him in the final of Houston, he’s giving me shots in his post-match speech, just like a good guy.”

Like Shelton, tennis fans like Tiafoe; US Open fans love him.

Tiafoe captures the spirit of the Open and even though he’s from Maryland, Tiafoe gets New York — the being knocked down, coming back, the hustle, the grit mixed in with swag, the not having to be perfect, just getting the job done.

“Showing your personality, being you,” Tiafoe told reporters earlier this week. “You don’t have to be this stand-up, perfect class act guy all the time. You can be you, get pumped up in however way you like to.”

On Aug. 30 in a marathon match, Tiafoe defeated Shelton 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3. The victory avenged a loss to Shelton last year at the Open. On Sunday, the 27-year-old Tiafoe defeated Alexei Popyrin, who had stunned defending champion Novak Djokovic in an upset win on the same night Tiafoe defeated Shelton.

A delirious Open crowd cajoled, pleaded, pushed and inspired Tiafoe to pick himself up and rally back against Popyrin, who was about to win the second set with a seemingly insurmountable 5-2 lead. But Tiafoe pulled even at 5-5 then went ahead 6-5 and won the tiebreaker. In the ninth game, Tiafoe came back from 0-40 to break Popyrin. The Open exploded.

Tiafoe endeared himself to Open fans two years ago when he upset the great Rafael Nadal and reached a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time in his career. He lost to Carlos Alcaraz but was on cloud nine. He calls that run “The Carlos Year.”

When someone suggested that the excitement of his current US Open run compared to the Open run in 2022, he said there was comparison.

“Well, The Carlos Year, I mean, I also beat Nadal during that time. It was tough, but it wasn’t,” he said. “Never been to the semis of a Slam. I felt like I was one of the greatest athletes in the world at that time. I felt everyone was just loving me. I hated to lose of course. I’m pissed. I would love to play a final, but it was such a great run that I wasn’t really that pissed about it. Just happy to be a part of that.”

Tiafoe is part of it again, after suffering through a dreary 2023 season that challenged his resolve to even remain in the sport.

After losing to Shelton last year at the quarterfinals of the Open, Tiafoe’s career seemed to go into a tailspin. After helping Team World defend its Laver Cup trophy, Tiafoe suffered through a dreadful season. In his final nine matches of the season, Tiafoe won only three. As recently as July, Tiafoe had a lackluster 16-17 record and had dropped to 30th in the world rankings from the top 10.

Tiafoe said that he felt lost, had lost himself on the court, had taken the game for granted. He said he lost his direction and even his will to continue making sacrifices.

Those who have lived life for six, seven, eight decades, recognize that challenges faced in their 20s were a small part of a long journey and would be overcome through faith and persistence. But for Tiafoe, the challenges of 2023 seemed like the end of the road.

But as he did in matches this week against Shelton and Popyrin, Tiafoe picked himself up and roared back. In the process he learned an important lesson about thriving in his chosen profession. Tiafoe counts a number of NBA players as friends, but tennis requires a complete set of survival skills.

“But the game of tennis, I mean, it’s just you,” he said earlier this week. “You can’t lean on anybody. You’ve got to have a level of discipline. You’ve got to do it on the days you don’t want to do it. You’ve got to sacrifice. You can’t do what everybody else is doing. You can’t hang out with your friends maybe all the time. You’ve got to be obsessed with it. You’ve got to eat, sleep, breathe — I mean, it’s got to mean that much to you.”

Tiafoe and other young African American male players mean a lot to the U.S. tennis establishment, which has struggled to produce a Black male tennis champion.

Arthur Ashe Jr. won the US Open in 1968. No African American man has won the Open since, an incredible drought of 56 years. The door is wide open for Tiafoe to make history.

On Tuesday, he faces No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov with a chance to reach his second Grand Slam semifinal. There are a number of imposing players left in the tournament, but none is named Alcaraz or Djokovic.

Tennis wants Tiafoe — no, tennis needs Tiafoe — to make tennis history.

To his credit, Tiafoe has acknowledged his role in diversifying tennis and has addressed the subject during the Open.

“As far as people of color, geez, that’s a great compliment. I appreciate that. But, yeah, it holds a lot of weight,” he said. “I definitely feel it holds a lot of weight. A lot of kids want to play the game now because of me. I feel that. Definitely a big responsibility. It’s definitely a place you want to be in, a place you want to continue to grow and have people want to play the game.

“Obviously I want to impact a lot of people of color to want to pursue the game of tennis. It’s big shoes to fill but a great seat to be in.”

At a time when conservatives are waging war on diversity, inclusion and equity, Tiafoe stands as a shining example of how diversity can empower a franchise, in this case, tennis.

“Diversity in sport speaks volumes,” he said. “Obviously, it has people tune in to the game that usually wouldn’t. I think I’ve had an amazing crossover.

“A lot of people that follow and want to come watch that would never really watch tennis. Because of the story I have and my interests outside of the game, it’s really helped the sport go forward.”

Shelton acknowledged Tiafoe as a much-needed charismatic force in tennis, especially on the men’s side.

“I think that Foe is the best at reaching the casual sports fan in our sport, especially here in America,” Shelton said. “I’m sure there were more celebrities who I don’t know in the crowd than I can imagine come watch Big Foe, and me as well. He’s kind of helped change the culture in our sport.”

Tiafoe said this week that the only way to keep casual fans tuning in is to be successful.

“I have to keep winning so they stay interested,” he said.

Symbolic representation goes only so far. Tennis needs Big Foe to make history this week.