26-year-old American tennis star Frances Tiafoe scored his fan favourite status after his semifinal run in last year’s US Open. Last week, he also opened up about partying the night away with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce since making his way up to the ATP rankings. However, his previous “taking shots with Taylor Swift” confession had nothing to do with him puking his heart out on the court at the Australian Open on Monday.
American tennis player Frances Tiafoe vomits mid-match
The No 17 seed in the tournament was up against France’s Arthur Rinderknech in a gruelling five-set match that reportedly lasted for four hours. Although Tiafoe was leading his opponent by two sets at one point, an unprecedented twist shook up the game. In the fourth set, the American athlete’s body broke down as he was compromised by cramps and ended up throwing up on the court right as he was set to serve for another point. Frances ultimately fought through it, but not before a medical break in the fourth set.
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Losing to the tiebreak, Frances pulled out all the stops and left it all on the court in the fifth set to finally clinch his 7-6 (2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3 victory. He later told ESPN that had it been any other tournament, he would have pulled out. “Loose game there, 5-3. Brought it back to deuce and wasn’t able to convert. Obviously tired but feeling fine. Then get the line and puke. I have some ab cramps during that, then I’m cramping all over the place,” he explained.
“He plays a pretty good breaker. Any other tournament, I would have pulled out but it’s a Slam. I’m in the second part of my career and these are the tournaments I care about the most. Whatever it takes.”
Michael Jordan flu game comparisons pour in
Meanwhile, on X/Twitter, even ESPN didn’t hold back in plugging fan-shared comparisons of Frances Tiafoe’s momentary physical weakness with Michael Jordan’s iconic ‘flu game.’
While the tennis player’s on-court sickness was possibly instigated by the prolonged course of the showdown against his French opponent, the basketball great’s case was vastly different. NBA details the flu-stricken Chicago Bulls superstar pushed against all odds to will a win against the Utah Jazz in the Game 5 of the 1997 Finals. Expanding his legend as a relentless competitor, Jordan played through food poisoning. He later described the experience as “probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.” He added, “I almost played myself into passing out just to win a basketball game.”
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Bulls coach Phil Jackson also said, “This was a heroic effort, one to add to the collection of efforts that make up his legend.”
User @TheTennisLetter shared the parallels between Michael Jordan’s 1997 and Frances Taifoe’s 2025 “flu game iterations.” Both visuals capture the bent-down athletes in a visibly weak moment, clutching onto their shorts as their fists find support on their knees.
Although ESPN, too, picked up the post, some netizens outrightly disagreed with the comparisons, pointing out that both instances were “not the same.” The original admin of the tennis page counter-argued, “If I’m keeping it real MJ played 44 minutes… Taifoe played over 4 hours so Taifoe>MJ we can’t argue with math.” It only led others to blame the tennis star for creating the trouble for himself. “Tiafoe should have won it in 3,” someone wrote back.
