For the first time in three decades, three American men are in the fourth round at Roland Garros. Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, and Ben Shelton have all made it to the last 16. It’s a milestone moment, and among them, Tiafoe has quietly found his groove on clay. He’s yet to drop a set, with solid wins over Roman Safiullin, Pablo Carreño Busta, and Sebastian Korda. But while he is focused on his performance on the court, it looks like he always seems to find time for some friendly mentorship.At the 2023 Miami Open, Eubanks, then ranked No. 119, made it through qualifying to reach the main draw. He’d never won three ATP matches in a row before, but at that tournament, things clicked. In the third round, he beat Grégoire Barrère 6-3, 7-6(7), booking a spot in his first Masters 1000 fourth round and breaking into the top 100 for the first time.But the win wasn’t straightforward. Eubanks was dominant in the first set, landing 89% of his first serves. In the second, after both players traded breaks, Barrère took a 6-2 lead in the tiebreaker. Then the rain came. A 90-minute break sent both players off court. Eubanks spoke with his coach, Ruan Roelofse, but an unexpected chat with Tiafoe stuck with him most. Despite being down in his own match against Lorenzo Sonego, Tiafoe found time for a quick pep talk.Eubanks shared the story recently on The Changeover podcast. He said, “So he came up to me in the locker room later and was like, ‘So what’s your situation? What’s your score?’ I was like, ‘Dude, I was tattooing everything, I was up a set and a break and now I’m down 6-2 in the breaker, so I am just going to get ready for—start bracing for the third.’ And he was like, ‘Why you worried about a third? Just go win this set.’ I was like, ‘You know how I return, we’ll see—like 6-2,’ but he goes, ‘Nah man, go out there and just get it now, you don’t need to worry about a third.’”Eubanks returned to the court, won the tiebreaker, and was in disbelief. He continued,“I was so shocked that I came back and won it, so my head—like, completely dumbfounded, I cannot believe that I just won this match. Afterwards, Ruan goes, ‘Hey, just so you know that was the match for the top 100,’ and then I started bawling, I was crying, I had never felt like that on the tennis court in my life.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Changeover (@changeoverpodcast)That season, Eubanks went on a run, reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in five sets. He lost to Daniil Medvedev in another five-setter but rose to a career-high No. 29. Since then, results have dipped. The 29-year-old is currently ranked No. 117. Frances Tiafoe, meanwhile, is riding a wave in Paris. This is his first time reaching the fourth round at the French Open. But that hasn’t come without its adversity.Frances Tiafoe opens up on how breaking his racket helped himThe 2025 season didn’t start well for Frances Tiafoe. He lost early in Brisbane and at the Australian Open. The next few stops—Dallas, Acapulco, Indian Wells, and Miami—didn’t bring much joy either.In Houston, a tournament he loves, he made his third straight final but lost to Jensen Brooksby. Then came a patchy clay season, and frustration started to build. But something changed last week. Tiafoe lost a practice set badly to Camilo Ugo Carabelli. He snapped his racket. It was a rare outburst, but maybe the release he needed.Talking after his third-round victory against Sebastian Korda, he said, “I think that was big for me, because then I finally actually adjusted and understood the why. And now I’m flying. I’m actually having fun again, battling, playing well. Sometimes adversity is good. I think a lot of times people look at adversity as a bad thing. I think adversity at that moment was good.”Now, Tiafoe will face Germany’s Daniel Altmaier in the fourth round, chasing a spot in the quarterfinals. Will this be the run that brings Tiafoe back to his best? What do you think?The post Frances Tiafoe Becomes the Unsung Hero Behind American Star’s Rise as He Makes an Honest Confession appeared first on EssentiallySports.