Eight years after junior triumph, Tommy Paul aims to build new memories at Roland Garros

TENNiStory: Tommy Paul

PARIS—Tommy Paul doesn’t have too many memories of his 2015 junior Roland Garros triumph.

“I don’t even think the court that I won on is still here,” he joked after winning his third Roland Garros main draw match on Tuesday. “I think they tore it down, so it’s not like I can go past the court and say, ‘Look, I won juniors there!’”

It was on the old Court 1, once lovingly called the “Bullring,” that Paul outfoxed Taylor Fritz—becoming the first of three Americans to win major titles that year—on what was, at the time, his favorite surface.

“Growing up, I was really, really comfortable on clay,” he recalled. “Now, I really enjoy hard- and grass-court tennis.”

As Roland Garros demolished the “Bullring,” Paul rebuilt his game from the ground up under coach Brad Stine, unveiling an all-out offense that has taken him up over 70 spots in the rankings since 2020. In the last 12 months, the 26-year-old surged into his first Grand Slam second week at Wimbledon, and topped that with a first semifinal at the Australian Open.

Seeded in Paris for the first time in his career, Paul aims to rediscover that clay-court comfort while sacrificing as little of his aggressive game plan as the courts allow.

“You can’t play the same tennis, really, that you do the rest of the year,” he said after easing past Dominic Stricker in straight sets. “Everything is slower, the balls don’t bounce true, and you play a lot deeper in the court because you have to adjust a lot more. There’s so many more adjustments, and not just to game plan or game style but adjusting on every single ball.

“So, I’ve got to figure out a way. I’ve been getting more and more comfortable week by week on the clay, figuring out my game style on the clay.”

Paul has spent the spring navigating that learning curve, finishing runner-up to Andy Murray at a Challenger in Aix-En-Provence but winning just one match in his other four clay-court outings. Against Stricker on Court 6, the No. 16 seed nonetheless struck 25 winners and drew 40 errors from his Swiss opponent to book an intriguing second-rounder against Geneva Open champion Nicolas Jarry.

“I think coming into Slams in the past two years, I’ve been pretty confident because the matches are longer and I have more time to work my way into matches,” said Paul. “I trust my game, so I think I’m always more excited at Slams to play matches.”

I don’t know if the result at the beginning of the year has any impact on this week. It’s a completely different tournament, different surface, against different players. I think I play Nico Jarry next, and he’s probably in the best form of his career, so it should be a really tough round and a good test for me. Tommy Paul

Paul had to keep his excitement at bay for an excruciating 72 hours as he waited the full length of the tournament’s extended opening round to play that first match.

“When it’s first round, I like that 11 a.m. start, so you don’t have to sit around all day. You wake up and get to it, which is awesome. I finished my day early yesterday, and I’m just sitting in my room watching a bunch of tennis because I’m ready to go and I want to play. I got the Tuesday start so I’m watching all these matches finish while I’m waiting to play my first point.

“I just saw Hubi [Hurkacz] in the locker room and he played three days ago, or something! I was like, ‘What have you even been doing with two days in between?’ It’s just different, and weird.”

Back in the Grand Slam rhythm from here on out, can Paul, who plans to grow out a Parisian mustache through the first week, make new memories on the terre battue this year?