Frances Tiafoe’s Racquet – Player Profile

Updated 5th September 2024
Frances Tiafoe is one of the top talents in US tennis and currently ranked 20 in the world. He is a talented all-court player with great touch and pretty much no weaknesses in his game. But what is Frances Tiafoe’s racquet?

Frances Tiafoe’s racquet

Tiafoe is using the Yonex Dual-G VCORE Pro 97 where he skips one cross string from the 16×20 pattern to turn it into a 16×19 pattern. He endorses the Yonex VCORE Pro 97 310, which is a good racquet in its own right.  Check it out on Tennis Warehouse (USA) or one of our affiliates such as Tennis Only (AU) and Tennis Warehouse Europe.

He string his racquets with Yonex Poly Tour Pro 1.25 (same string as Nick Kyrgios but different gauge). He adds lead tape at 3 and 9 to get his racquet up to the following specs according to Impacting Tennis as of 2018.

Frances Tiafoe’s racquet specs

Weight: 313 g
Balance: 32 cm
Estimated strung specs: 335g
Balance: 33 cm approx (a bit more head-light with overgrip)
Swing weight: 330-ish

Tiafoe’s racquets are painted to look like the Yonex VCORE Pro 97 310g, but is a pro stock racquet with a paint job with a different layup and mould underneath. His specifications are pretty light for a pro player racquet, but looking at his slightly unorthodox technique with shorter swings on the backhand side and a quite strange take-back on the forehand side,  it seems to make sense. His tension of 20 kg (45 lbs) is quite low and will help him to achieve free depth without such a heavy racquet. It again shows how personal racquets specs are even on the highest level of tennis.

The Yonex VCORE Pro line is an excellent choice for advanced level players who can generate their own pace and likes to attack the ball. I have reviewed the 2018 version here and the 2019 HD VCORE Pro here.

This is a control-oriented players frame, however the open string pattern offers plenty of spin potential, this set up really compliments Tiafoe game and suits his playing style.

More about France Tiafoe

France Tiafoe is one of the most electrifying and popular players on the ATP tour. He plays exciting tennis, loves getting the crowd involved and is a great showman. “Big Foe” is 26 years old and stands at 188cm tall, he grew up in Maryland USA and started playing tennis at College Park Tennis Centre. Currently he’s being coached by his former USTA coach Diego Moyano. The American has become a fixture of the men’s top 20 and in this article, we are going to take a deeper dive into his playing style and career to date.

There’s no question about it, Big Foe has a big game. The physicality he brings to the court is extremely impressive. He doesn’t have a typical tennis players build, instead of being relatively thin with a flexible upper body like Roger or Novak, Frances is ripped. With a strong upper body and powerful build, he hits the ball with pace and moves extremely well.

The American is an all-court player who thrives on fast hard courts. He has an unorthodox yet effective serving technique and over his career has won 81% of his service games, an impressive stat. Frances has a whippy yet powerful forehand, his long swing would seemingly cause some players trouble on a fast surface, yet he handles it well with great timing. Accompanying this is a flat, punchy backhand, this is probably his most consistent shot, it stays low and can do damage from the back of the court. An area he has improved on over the past few years is his volley game, he is very confident at the net and is a more dynamic player for it.

3 ATP Titles

Frances has won three career titles to date including Stuttgart, Houston and Delray Beach, he is also a two-time US Open semi-finalist. The American has a career high ranking of number 10 in the world which he reached in June of 2023. The great thing about Frances is that he hasn’t peaked yet, he has grand slam winning potential and should continue to compete for slams in years to come.

Tiafoe loves playing at the US Open, he gets fired up and energizes big crowds, I think this is where he will be most dangerous and could potentially become a grand slam champion.

Frances Tiafoe is complete player and joy to watch, keep an eye out for him over the next few years because he has already proved that he has some serious potential.