MELBOURNE, Australia—Frances Tiafoe kicked off his 2026 Australian Open campaign in style, donning a special Lululemon kit that paid tribute to his Sierra Leone roots to defeat Jason Kubler in straight sets on Sunday.
“It means a lot to me,” he told me in his post-match press conference. “It meant the world to me. Gives you a little extra motivation, a little extra spark. Kind of like I can come out there and really compete. But it felt good. The outfit was amazing.”
Tiafoe is no stranger to telling a story with his personal style, wearing red and yellow to pay homage to the Washington Commanders—his hometown football team—at the Mubadala Citi DC Open last summer.
“Shout-out Lululemon,” Tiafoe said. “What an amazing job. Again, a massive surprise. I wasn't expecting it. Did a photo shoot in the offseason. I was like, ‘Are these Sierra Leone colors? What are we doing?’
“Yeah, no, it feels great to rock it. And obviously having my mom here is super, super cool. She's loving that. Yeah, it hits a lot of people, for sure. The whole Maryland area, there's a ton of people from Sierra Leone, so it's awesome.”