Both Started at Six. Both Played Ashe on the Same Day.

At noon on September 11, 2026, Robin Montgomery walked onto Arthur Ashe Stadium for a US Open women's doubles final. Seven hours later Frances Tiafoe walked onto the same court for a men's singles semifinal. Same nonprofit tennis center in College Park, Maryland. Both in its program by age six.

Neither left with the trophy. Both left with the thing the academy says it builds, and this time the receipts were on camera.

Two sets down, then the walk to the net

Tiafoe's quarterfinal on September 8 should have ended early. Alex Michelsen, unseeded, took the first two sets and served for the match at 5-4 in the third. Tiafoe had never won a US Open match from two sets down. He won this one 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(6) in four hours and 38 minutes, from 0-3 down in the 5th.

Then came the moment Ponkka singled out. Instead of a long celebration, Tiafoe jogged to the net and held Michelsen, who was in tears. "As soon as I hugged him, I'd seen he was crying already and I was like, 'Man, I know,'" Tiafoe said afterward. Vesa Ponkka, JTCC's President and Director of Coaching, called it "the sportsmanship that every fan wants to see, and every junior needs to see."

It was Tiafoe's third US Open semifinal, after 2022 and 2024. Per the AP, he and Andre Agassi are the only American men to reach three US Open semifinals this century. Ben Shelton ended the run on September 11, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, in front of 3.1 million viewers, and went on to the final. Tiafoe, seeded 11th, left New York at a career-high No. 8 in the world, back inside the top 10 for the first time since 2023.

Tiafoe at JTCC

You know the origin story. When he was a toddler his father worked on the labor crew that built JTCC, and the construction job became a maintenance role once the courts opened. Frances and his twin brother Franklin often stayed at the center five nights a week, sleeping in a back room. Denis Kudla remembers them at four years old: "that goofy kid with this iconic smile." Over the years, Tiafoe came up through JTCC's High Performance program, excelling in junior tennis and then on the pro tour.

After a 2025 season that started at No. 32 and stalled, Tiafoe spent about six weeks of his offseason training at JTCC, per the Baltimore Sun. His own summary of the work: "stop hiding behind your talent, stop hiding behind the gift." CEO Martin Blackman watched it "day in and day out." Shelton came down to hit with him too. The man who beat him in the semifinal had practiced on the same courts, in front of the same kids.

He also pays it back. The Frances Tiafoe Fund gave JTCC $50,000 in April 2024 for free programming in Prince George's County parks and schools. "I wouldn't be where I am today without the support of everyone at JTCC," he said then.

Robin Montgomery's five-year circle

Montgomery, 22, started at JTCC in 2010 through its free outreach programs. In 2021 she won the US Open Junior girls' singles and doubles titles.

Five years later, she and her doubles partner Ashlyn Krueger went back to the Slam as wild cards. In the semifinal, Montgomery and Krueger saved two match points, then won the match tiebreak from 2-8 down. In the final on September 11, top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend beat them 5-7, 6-0, 6-2.

"I think we did forget that we were offered a wild card, so I'm just glad we made good use of it," Montgomery said. Three months earlier she had won her first WTA title as a qualifier ranked No. 484. Three months later she was in a Grand Slam final on Ashe.

Always home: Kudla in the corner

The person in New York working with Montgomery was another JTCC lifer. Kudla first stepped onto a JTCC court at 8 years old, reached No. 53 in the world, and after retiring from the tour came back in January 2026 to be a Senior High Performance Coach.

At the US Open he was working with Montgomery, and posed at the net on Ashe with her and Tiafoe. "It's been cool to see that we both have the same passion for where we came from, and the love of the game," he said of Tiafoe.

It is the pattern from our first JTCC story: people do not just graduate from JTCC, they come back.

The next one was already in the draw

Shristi Selvan, 16, of Laurel, Maryland won the USTA Billie Jean King Girls' 16s National Championships on August 15, 2026 in San Diego. At the hard court Nationals, the 16s title carries a wild card into the US Open Junior Championships. On September 6 she played her first US Open juniors match and drew Anna Pushkareva, the fifth seed and the 2026 Wimbledon girls' champion.

Selvan won the Winter Nationals Girls' 16s title in January, the Easter Bowl 16s singles and doubles in the spring, and then San Diego in August: three singles Gold Balls in one year, from a player who started in its red ball program at five.

What JTCC actually develops

Read the release JTCC put out on September 10, before either match: "Most academies and programs celebrate one or two players reaching a Grand Slam draw. Today, JTCC has two alumni playing in a Grand Slam final and semifinal on the same day." Blackman's line on why: "Both Frances and Robin's work ethic, love for the game and mental toughness have enabled their progression, along with their amazing teams."

Strip the pride and the method is visible. Both came up inside a nonprofit that runs free outreach across D.C. and Prince George's County; the USTA named it 2024 NJTL of the Year. Both trained at JTCC alongside hundreds of top juniors on the same campus. Both were coached by people who stayed: Ponkka since 1999, leading and developing world-class coaching talent from all over the world.

The academy's motto is champions on and off the court, and that's what it looks like on camera.