Francis Tiafoe masters the Wimbledon rain delay; playing on grass is next

Francis Tiafoe literally grew up around tennis, often spending nights at a Maryland tennis center where his father worked. At only 16, he is ranked number two in the world. Could a future U.S. champion be in the making? (Lee Powell / The Washington Post)

WIMBLEDON Francis Tiafoes introduction to Wimbledon couldnt have been more fitting.

Scheduled to open play Saturday afternoon in the Junior Championships, as Wimbledons tournament for 18-and-under players is known, Tiafoe arrived at the practice courts for a 12:30 p.m. warmup just as it started raining.

After the skies cleared, he trudged back to the practice court, but the skies opened again before he hit the first ball.

Finally, after whiling away the afternoon in the junior players lounge listening to music, reminding himself to drink water and guessing how much to eat, Tiafoe was informed that his first-round match had been postponed until Monday, along with several dozen other matches, because of scheduling havoc wreaked by the weather.

You see it so much on TV, the rain delays at Wimbledon, Tiafoe said. This was the first time I experienced one. Its not easy, but youve got to stay focused and be ready to go.

Tiafoe, of Riverdale Park, has spent most of his 16 years in a tennis bubble, having picked up the game at 5 while his father worked as a maintenance man at College Parks Junior Tennis Champions Center. But he had never set foot on a grass court or owned a pair of grass-court shoes with pimpled soles until two weeks ago, when he and a contingent from the JTCC flew to London to compete in a Wimbledon tuneup at nearby Roehampton.

Frank Salazar, the centers director of high-performance training, prepared the youngsters Tiafoe, 16-year-old Raveena Kingsley and the Arconada siblings, Usue, 15, and Jordi, 17 for the quirks of grass-court tennis as best he could. All earned spots in Wimbledons 64-player boys and girls draws.

Salazar warned them that the ball wouldnt bounce as high, so they needed to bend their knees and stay low to the ground. He advised them to shorten their backswings to quicken their reaction time. And then he let them hit just for fun to get a feel for it, and then in a more structured way.

As the No. 7 seed here, Tiafoe is finding out that competing on grass is something he must learn by doing, with a racket in hand and sod underfoot.

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Francis Tiafoe masters the Wimbledon rain delay; playing on grass is next