cnn
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No matter who won Tuesday's US Open quarterfinal match between Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, history was going to be made: For the first time, two black men faced each other in the match.
Shelton prevailed in the historic match, defeating world No. 10 Tiafoe 6-2 3-6 7-6(7) 6-2 and booking a semi-final clash with 23-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic.
It was also the first time since 2008 that two black men faced off in Arthur Ashe Stadium. It's been nearly two decades since an American man won the US Open tennis tournament. And while much of the attention has been focused on whether 2023 will be the year the drought finally ends, tennis fans are taking a moment to savor this historic match.
“This is something special, a cosmic event,” Art Carrington, a former professional tennis player who now coaches the sport, told CNN before the match.
Tiafoe and Shelton's personalities, he said, “are going to enrich the game.”
The match between the two rising tennis stars has also renewed attention on black men who play tennis. Tiafoe, 25, and Shelton, 20, faced off in a stadium named in honor of the black tennis legend who broke barriers in the game.
Arthur Ashe was the first African-American man to be ranked number one in tennis and the first to win numerous titles in the sport, including a singles title at the US Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon. He was also the first black American to play on the United States Davis Cup team.
Carrington, who was once Ashe's practice partner, told CNN that it is important for younger generations to see black men excel in tennis.
“We have to have tennis where it is visible, where people can see the (blacks) who are playing,” he said.
He also said that while people know the story of Venus and Serena Williams' path to tennis, “we just don't hear enough family stories about African-American men. “This is a highlight.”
Both Tiafoe and Shelton were surrounded by the sport since they were children.
The son of Sierra Leonean immigrants, Tiafoe and his family lived in a junior tennis champions center where his father worked in maintenance. A few years later, he enrolled in a downtown tennis clinic.
In 2022, he became the first African-American to reach a US Open semi-final since Ashe in 1972.
Shelton follows in the footsteps of his father, Bryan, a tennis champion who won two professional titles and played on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour.
Earlier this year, Shelton's father resigned as coach at the University of Florida to coach his son in professional tennis.
Carrington said for young African-Americans, exposure to tennis is essential to the sport. It's up to older generations, she said, to pass on her love of the game.
But before Tuesday's game, Carrington said that if he were coaching Tiafoe and Shelton, he would tell them not to focus on the weight of this historic moment.
“Try to have fun,” he said. “Don't play with stress. Let the stress go.”
