Tiafoe and Sabalenka react to Federer's presence at Arthur Ashe night session
pAlthough a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/frances-tiafoe/td51/overview'Frances Tiafoe/a and Aryna Sabalenka were focused on important business on court during Tuesday's night session, both players admitted to being aware of the star presence of a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/roger-federer/f324/overview'Roger Federer/a, who watched from the stands of the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/arthur-ashe/a063/overview'Arthur Ashe/a Stadium./p
pFederer, who won five consecutive titles at Flushing Meadows from 2004 ndash; 2008, was seen in one of the stadium boxes, speaking to former a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a semi-finalist a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tim-henman/h336/overview'Tim Henman/a, and Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell./p
pThe Swiss legend first saw Sabalenka overcome Zheng Qinwen 6-1, 6-2 in the womenrsquo;s quarter-final. He then watched American hope Tiafoe defeat a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/grigor-dimitrov/d875/overview'Grigor Dimitrov/a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 4-1 to advance to the menrsquo;s semi-final as the Bulgarian retired with injury. /p
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pTiafoe spoke about the feeling of having the 20-time Grand Slam champion watching: ldquo;Yeah, I mean, that was pretty sick. Obviously, I wasn't thinking about it that much. The last couple years of a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/laver-cup/9210/overview'Laver Cup/a you kind of get used to that, seeing him in the stands.rdquo;/p
pThe No. 16 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings also joked about Federerrsquo;s trademark sophistication: ldquo;The way he looked in the suites is the same way he looked when he was playing. No sweat. Tees ironed perfect. What's up with this dude, man? Hair perfect. /p
pldquo;What a guy. What a legend. So nice he's enjoying his life, doing his thing, just popping in wherever he kind of wants to, and everyone embraces him. Unbelievable wherever he goes. I mean, he's such an icon.rdquo;/p
p /p
pSabalenka spoke about the effect of Federerrsquo;s presence on her game: ldquo;I saw him there, saw him on the big screen. I mean, I'm pretty sure he came to watch Tiafoe and Dimitrov, but still, I was like, lsquo;Okay, I have to play my best tennis so he enjoys itrsquo;. /p
pldquo;I had to show my skills you know, slice skills, come to the net and all that stuff.rdquo;/p
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