See Frances Tiafoe shout out Tony Goldwyn in US Open crowd after win: ‘I’m a huge fan of you, bro’
Tennis star Frances Tiafoe used some of his shine after advancing to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open to shout out "Scandal"-turned-"Law & Order" star Tony Goldwyn.
"Hold on. Sorry, sorry. Tony Goldwyn was in the crowd," Tiafoe said in an interview on the court after his match Sept. 1. Tiafoe defeated Australia's Alexei Popyrin in four sets to advance to the quarterfinals Sept. 3.
"Yo, I'm a huge fan of you, bro. Me and my girl used to watch 'Scandal' all the time. I'm a huge fan, brother. I'm a huge fan, bro. I gotta say that," Tiafoe added. He has been dating fellow tennis player Ayan Broomfield for nearly nine years.
The camera then showed Goldwyn in the crowd pumping up Tiafoe.
"This is a @tonygoldwyn stan account," the U.S. Open captioned the clip on social media.
Goldwyn starred as President Fitzgerald Grant on "Scandal" from 2012 to 2018 on ABC and has been a fan favorite ever since. Some of his former co-workers from the show and the network were also present for Tiafoe's match. Show creator Shonda Rhimes and co-stars Scott Foley and Bellamy Young were in the house, plus "Grey's Anatomy" star Ellen Pompeo and her husband, Chris Ivery. The group sat together at the match.
Tiafoe has become a tennis name to follow over the years.
He advanced to the semifinals at the U.S. Open in 2022, becoming the first American man to reach that stage of the tournament since Andy Roddick in 2006 and the first Black American man to do so since Arthur Ashe in 1972, who made it to the finals that same year.
Tiafoe also advanced to the quarterfinals round at the 2023 U.S. Open.
Now competing in his third quarterfinals in a row at the tournament, Tiafoe is a favorite to win. During a post-match press conference Sept. 1, a reporter asked him about being a favorite.
"I appreciate the compliment that you think I'm one of the favorites," Tiafoe said, chuckling.
"I'm not really looking like favorites and things like that. I'm just day by day, literally," he later added.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
