Tommy Paul opens up about “party phase” after turning pro on Netflix’s ‘Break Point'

Tommy Paul shined a light on some of the darker elements of professional sport in his debut on Netflix’s Break Point, opening up about the personal demons that plagued him in the docuseries’ third episode, “Friend or Foe.”

“When I turned pro, I was kind of in my party phase,” explains the 26-year-old. “Got a little money in my pocket and I just thought, ‘Let’s have fun.’ Kinda got caught up in it.”

Paul’s partying ways caught up with him at the 2017 US Open, where he endured a 6-0, 6-0 men’s doubles defeat that was rumored to be the reason why he wasn’t given a wild card to the tournament two years later.

“I had a night out drinking and the next day I was supposed to play doubles,” Paul recalls. “I was not there, if you know what I mean. Like, I couldn’t even see. I was getting alcohol tested for six months. That’s when I was like, ‘This has got to be rock bottom.’ I knew that I had to turn something around. That’s when I started taking everything more seriously.”

A much more serious Paul is featured on Break Point, one who proudly tells coach Brad Stine he has sworn off alcohol for the duration of the 2023 Australian Open.

“He wants to be the No. 1 American tennis player,” Stine says in a confessional interview. “I would question at times, ‘How is he going to be able to do that?’ But Tommy’s working very hard off the court, and he has become a more mature individual in general.”

That maturity paid off in Melbourne, where he surged into his first Grand Slam semifinal, setting the stage for a breakthrough season.

“Tommy’s an immense talent, he just didn’t have direction,” muses Jim Courier, a former world No. 1 and a former pupil of Stine’s.

Paul followed up his run in Australia with a Masters 1000 semifinal at the National Bank Open, where he defeated Carlos Alcaraz for a second straight year.

He ultimately finished just short of his goal to be No. 1 American in 2023, settling for No. 2 in between junior rivals Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe at a best-ever year-end finish of No. 13.

“He had some tough times,” says mother Jill MacMillan, a former college tennis player who now works as an audiologist. “I remember getting some gut-wrenching phone calls, like, ‘Mom what am I doing?’ It broke my heart. He was watching Frances and Taylor just killing it. It made him kind of doubt that he had what it took. But now I’m just so glad to see it all come together.”

“Tommy was never a bad guy, but I think he had a longer path to get to where he is now,” adds girlfriend Paige Lorenze.

Paul kicked off his 2024 season at the Adelaide International, where, as the No. 1 seed, he won his opening round but lost his second to Jack Draper in straight sets. With plenty of points to defend, how will the American handle a consequential Aussie summer?