Tommy Paul stays cool in the New York heat to beat countryman Sebastian Korda for the first time

SUMMER FLASHBACK: Paul tops Alcaraz at National Bank Open

“He has to be top five in the world at spinning his racquet on his hand,” Michael Russell said of Tommy Paul in the Grandstand commentator’s booth at the US Open on Wednesday.

It’s true, Paul is an expert at casually keeping his Wilson frame rotating in horizontal circles. Just as remarkable is when he does it. Before a big point, little point, break point, maybe even a set or a match point: The North Carolina native always stays loose.

Does that help or hurt Paul’s tennis? The answer may depend on the scoreline. If he’s losing, he can look too casual and uncommitted to the task. If he’s winning, he looks like a genius for staying so relaxed and swinging so freely and not getting negative.

There was time enough in Paul’s three hour and 18 minute, 6-0, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over countryman Sebastian Korda for both interpretations of his body language to be true. In the sets that he won, he stayed cool in the clutch. In the sets he lost, he seemed to let Korda have his way and not offer up enough resistance.

In the end, Paul’s even-keel demeanor paid off. What made the difference in the deciding fifth set was that Paul stayed within himself and didn’t try to do too much when he knew he would be nervous, while Korda aimed unnecessarily close to the baseline with his forehand, and missed it too many times.

There were close to 300 points played in this match; there were two major momentum shifts; there were dozens of perfect serves, rifled ground-stroke winners, and lethal baseline exchanges; between them, the two players covered more than 30,000 feet. But the key stat was simple: Paul made 41 unforced errors and Korda made 56, often at inopportune moments. The most inopportune came when Paul was serving at 4-3 in the fifth set, and Korda reached break point. In the next rally, Korda had a good look at a forehand…and drilled it a few inches long. “Whhhyyy???” he screamed in agony.

The only good answer to that question is that Paul is fast enough to make his opponents hit more balls than they like, and go for just a little too much when they do. The 25-year-old had lost all three of his previous meetings with the 22-year-old Korda, and he didn’t want to lose to him again. Paul came out on fire in the first set, winning 6-0 in 21 minutes. But once Korda found a rhythm, Paul couldn’t match his heavy artillery from the baseline, so he had to scramble. Finally, after two nearly flawless sets, Korda came down to earth and stopped hitting cold winners. From there, Paul turned the match into an athletic contest—a scrap. It’s hard to beat him in a scrap.

Paul’s win is a welcome but bittersweet one for U.S. tennis, because it came at the expense of a fellow American. That’s the downside of having 44 players in the singles draws; they tend to run into each other. Through three days, it’s been a mixed bag for the host country on the men’s side. Having Taylor Fritz, the new face of the U.S. men’s game, go out in the first round—to fellow American Brandon Holt, naturally—was devastating, and fueled a hundred new, unanswerable “why is the U.S. so bad at tennis?” stories. On the other hand, sleeveless folk hero J.J. Wolf’s two wins have galvanized the crowds that watched him.

Along with Frances Tiafoe, Paul may have the highest hopes of anyone. He beat Carlos Alcaraz this summer; is up to a personal-best 30 wins on the season; and will play Casper Ruud, a player he has a chance to beat, in the third round. Last year, U.S. players had a great first week, and then, suddenly, by the quarterfinals everyone was gone.

Can Paul help change that? When he came out to serve at 5-4 in the fifth against Korda, the pressure on him was palpable. Korda had been pushing hard, and getting closer, for three or four games. But Tommy didn’t sweat it. He closed out a love hold with a forehand winner. U.S. tennis could use a little more of that over the next week in New York.