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120511Francis Tiafoe481.JPG Frances Tiafoe for the New York Times

photo by Matt Roth
Friday, May 11, 2012
Assignment ID: 30125820A

Friday afternoon at the Tiafoe's home. Franklin Tiafoe watches television next to his and his brother Francis's coach Misha Kouznetsov, who is talking to the boys' mother Alphina Kamara about tournament business. In the background Francis Tiafoe, the top-ranked 14-year-old tennis player in the country, background right, is working on social media with his friend Kenneth Downing, 16, who has known the Tiafoe boys from the Tennis Center at College Park for five years.

His father immigrated from Sierra Leone in 1996. Francis's father, Constant lived where he worked at the Tennis Center at College Park, where Francis and his twin brother Franklin would occasionally sleep. Misha Kouznetsov, a tennis pro at the Center saw potential in Francis and has been training the twins since they were eight. Constant and his family have since moved into an apartment five minutes away, and the boys train and go to school full-time at the Center.

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120511Francis Tiafoe480.JPG
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2012, Matt Roth
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photo by Matt Roth<br /> Friday, May 11, 2012<br /> Assignment ID: 30125820A<br /> <br /> Friday afternoon at the Tiafoe's home. Franklin Tiafoe watches television next to his and his brother Francis's coach Misha Kouznetsov, who is talking to the boys' mother Alphina Kamara about tournament business. In the background Francis Tiafoe, the top-ranked 14-year-old tennis player in the country, background right, is working on social media with his friend Kenneth Downing, 16, who has known the Tiafoe boys from the Tennis Center at College Park for five years. <br /> <br /> His father immigrated from Sierra Leone in 1996. Francis's father, Constant lived where he worked at the Tennis Center at College Park, where Francis and his twin brother Franklin would occasionally sleep. Misha Kouznetsov, a tennis pro at the Center saw potential in Francis and has been training the twins since they were eight. Constant and his family have since moved into an apartment five minutes away, and the boys train and go to school full-time at the Center.
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