Prince George’s County named Friday, Sept. 16, as  “Frances Tiafoe Day” after the Route 1 native’s historic run at the U.S. Open semifinals last week.

Tiafoe, who lost to Spanish tennis phenom Carlos Alcaraz in five grueling sets last Friday night, is being welcomed back to College Park.

The Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, where Tiafoe trained as a kid, is also holding a homecoming at 3 p.m. featuring county leaders and other local officials.

Last week, Tiafoe, 24, became the first American man to reach the U.S. Open semifinals since 2006 and the first Black American to make it to the semifinals since 1972. During his run, he also defeated the No. 2 ranked player in the world, Rafael Nadal.

Despite his loss, Tiafoe was a crowd favorite at Flushing Meadows and has been hailed as part of a “next generation” of American men’s tennis players who will reinvigorate the sport.

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