Frances Tiafoe got the chance to play with Serena Williams three times in his career.

Tiafoe has been supported by Williams throughout his career, even since she has retired from the sport.

As compatriots, Tiafoe was given the opportunity to partner Williams at the Hopman Cup.

This enabled him to be part of a dream match where Williams was playing against Roger Federer.

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Frances Tiafoe reveals what Serena Williams told him during their match against Roger Federer

In a discussion between Tiafoe and rising American WTA player Hailey Baptiste, they both discussed their experiences of playing alongside the Williams sisters.

Baptiste recently played alongside Venus Williams at the Washington Open, something she has described as ‘insane’.

When discussing the pressure she felt playing alongside Venus, it prompted Tiafoe to speak about the time he got to play with Serena.

Tiafoe and Serena lost all three of their matches as doubles teammates, but perhaps their most memorable encounter came when they were beaten by the Swiss pair of Federer and Belinda Bencic at the 2019 Hopman Cup.

When recalling that match, Tiafoe revealed that Williams was telling him how perplexed she was by how Federer kept acing her.

Baptiste: I mean I would say, probably this year’s Citi Open, playing doubles with Venus. It was insane. From the moment I heard that we were going to play and it was set up, I was like, that’s all I could think about. I was like, ‘I’m about to play with a legend’.

Tiafoe: How funny is that though? Because every ball you miss, they can go in double, double whatever. Every ball you miss you’re like this cat right here thinks I’m trash.

Baptiste: No, literally every ball I miss, I’m like ‘she regrets playing with me’.

Tiafoe: (laughs) She’s like I’m wasting my time on these young women.

Baptiste: Yeah, I mean I was obviously crazy nervous like, Venus and Serena are obviously the people I looked up to my entire life…Walking onto the court that day, on our first match…doubles at the Citi Open, it could have been [Arthur] Ashe [Stadium] the way people sounded. It was nuts.

Tiafoe:…I played with both of them. I played with Serena in the Hopman Cup and we lost every match, bro. I’m going to Serena like…but I guess like the mindset. The mindset they have, Serena is like, Federer is acing her and she’s like, ‘Well I’ve got 23 and he’s got 20, he’s not as good as me’. I’m like…I was like, wait, here comes ace, ace and ace. She’s like ‘I don’t know how he’s acing me, he’s not better than me’. And I’m like we going to say no? Like, no he’s not. Are you going to say no? But like the mindset yo, it’s crazy. Losing with them, that killed me.

Baptiste: Yeah, I think I was more upset with my doubles loss than my singles loss.

Tiafoe: Losing killed me. I want to see them win.

Baptiste: The worst part was the people we lost to ended up winning the tournament.

Tiafoe: Oh, did they?

Baptiste: Yeah and we lost a 10 point tie-breaker. So obviously you think damn if we got through that we would have held a title, which would be nuts.

Tiafoe: But if you guys had won a title, key to the city or not?

Baptiste: 100% (laughs).

How Roger Federer said returning Serena Williams’ serve made him feel

While in the moment there may have been some competitive energy, there was always a lot of respect between Federer and Williams.

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Williams had one of the greatest serves in history, and after their Hopman Cup match Federer admitted he was actually nervous to return it.

“I was nervous returning because it’s a wonderful serve and you just can’t read it,” Federer told press.

“It was great fun and she is a great champion. You can see how focused she is and that’s what I love about her.”

Both Federer and Williams’ serves helped them win a combined 43 Grand Slam singles titles.