ROLAND GARROS

May 30, 2025

Tommy Paul

Press Conference

T. PAUL/K. Khachanov

6-3, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Tommy, congrats. Can you walk us through the match, tell us what was the key today.

TOMMY PAUL: Holding serve. Holding serve as the match went on got a little bit more difficult. I thought he returned very well, put a lot of returns close to the baseline. And, I mean, obviously it's never super easy to serve out matches, but he made it difficult, and I ended up, I guess, kind of figuring it out there at the end.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I think this is the second time you have ever won consecutive five-set matches. I think US Open '22 you did that. How tough is that to do, to get through two really tough matches like that? Obviously the physical stuff you talked about in the last press conference.

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, it's definitely harder than winning straight-set matches. But, I don't know, I feel like that's what we train for. Definitely happy to get through in any way, whether it's five sets. If I have to play five sets again in the next match, I'll do it.

Yeah, not too much. You know, obviously your body gets worn down and tired, but yeah, gotta push through it. It's a Grand Slam, you know.

Q. You guys are both probably known more for hard courts. There were long stretches where it seemed you guys were ignoring that you remember playing on clay and looked like hard court tennis. Wondering how much were you aware of that? How much were you thinking like I've got to, you know, do spins and slices and stuff like that down in that fifth set?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I mean, not at all. When it comes to, if I was thinking about us playing hard court tennis. I was just trying to win any point any way I could. And it happened to be later in the match when I started, you know, playing more aggressive.

For us, I think on any surface when we play, it's about who can get on offense first, because when he's offensive, he's really, really good. He can do everything. When I'm offensive, I feel like that's an uncomfortable position for him. That's what it was about. Not too much about the surface, really.

Q. Your next opponent, Alexei says that he thinks you're one of the fittest on the circuit. Is that something you take great pride in? He basically says, I don't think it's going to make much difference in terms of him having played two five-setters.

TOMMY PAUL: Definitely. I work really hard, you know, off court and on court. We get after it. You know, we feel kind of prepped for this kind of stuff (smiling).

Q. What do you think of Alexei and the dangers he poses in the next round?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, everyone saw last year him in Canada winning the tournament. He played unbelievable tennis there. That's what he's capable of. He can take the racquet out of your hand sometimes. Hopefully tomorrow or in two days I can use the clay to my advantage and kind of slow things down a little bit.

We have played quite a few times, so I guess we know each other's games pretty well. I think we both have ideas of what we want to do on the court in that match.

I'm just excited to play. I mean, this is Grand Slam tennis, and this is why we play the sport, you know.

Q. What did you have to do? Can you tell us a little bit about the physical preparation between the last match when you had those physical problems and getting ready for today?

TOMMY PAUL: Honestly, not too much different, really. We just did an ice bath and got some body work with my physio and prioritized sleeping, trying to sleep as much as I can, as late as I can, which at slams it's honestly not the easiest thing.

You know, it was obviously a stressful couple of weeks. You want to do well. There are so many other matches going on, you want to watch tennis. It's not actually the easiest to sleep during these events, even when you have ten sets under your belt in two days.

That's, like, the priority for me, at least. I think a lot of players would probably agree.

Q. What is a good night's sleep for you during these things?

TOMMY PAUL: During these things? If I can, I say maybe for you guys, I don't know, I don't know your guys' sleep schedule, but I like to get, like, nine hours. And here, I mean, it's broken up and probably, like, six.

Q. You spoke a little bit a moment ago about the physical challenges of the five-setters. What about the mental side of that and remaining locked in for that long period?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I mean, your mind drives everything. When your mind goes, sometimes your body can go too. That's the most important thing, to stay locked in.

Tell yourself to keep going, whatever, you know, ticks some people have to keep themselves moving forward and in a positive mindset. Everyone is different. That plays a huge role in playing long matches or playing slams in general.

Q. For sure you know pretty well Karen's game and other Russian guys, Rublev, Medvedev. Would you underline something that connects them, if there is anything in their style of play which you, like, can define? Or it's in a good way stereotype of them?

TOMMY PAUL: Like what do they all do similar?

Q. Yeah, if there is something from their school, I don't know.

TOMMY PAUL: I mean, they're all really good baseline tennis players. They don't really have too big of holes from the baseline. Most of them can really hit the crap out of the ball.

That's about it, I guess.

Q. You were often applauding his shots, clapping your racquet on his shots. Wonder if it's a reflection of you guys being friends, keeping it light, keeping yourself in the right head space, or is that a bit of a mind game to do that with opponents?

TOMMY PAUL: No, it's not a mind game. He came up with some really good shots. I do that in most of my matches, honestly. I try to applaud my opponent when they do something well and not take away from what they're doing good.

It also helps me in my mindset knowing that, like, you know, you did everything right in that point, the guy played that point too good, and moving on to the next point.