THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 1, 2026

Tommy Paul

Press Conference

T. PAUL/S. Kwon

6-3, 7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference for Tommy Paul.

Tommy, nice win this afternoon. If you could just talk us through the game this afternoon.

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I mean, I think I served well today. I think that was the main thing that I guess got me over the line. Besides obviously that game, serving for the second set, I didn't lose serve once, so I thought I came up with some good serves on some big points and played a pretty solid match all around.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. On the serve, amazing today. People know you obviously have a big serve at certain points. For the grass court swing, are there any specific patterns or tactics you're trying to adapt on the serve that you don't want to give away today?

TOMMY PAUL: (Smiling.) I don't know. I think not today, but for the most part I like to serve a little bit more body on the grass.

Q. At Queen's you were talking about falling well. Players are slipping and sliding on grass. How do you slide well on a grass court?

TOMMY PAUL: Well, ideally, not with your knees going inwards. I feel like that's the most dangerous way to fall on the grass. Like maybe a split step a little too hard and one knee goes in, that's kind of the scary falls.

Ideally, you'd rather almost have your feet slide out and fall down and not on your wrist, you know. I think those are like the most important things on the grass when falling.

Q. Can you practice that sort of thing?

TOMMY PAUL: No, I don't practice it. I try and stay on my feet as much as I can.

Q. Was there some medical treatment you received at a certain point?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, no, I just had a cut on my finger and it wouldn't stop bleeding. Nothing very serious at all. Just my finger kind of dried out and cracked and then started bleeding.

Q. Your thoughts, if you watched Serena play yesterday?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, we watched it.

Q. What did you think of her performance and her level?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure. I think it's pretty impressive at her age to come out and -- I mean, she was striking the ball pretty well, returning pretty well. I thought she was going to, like, go after it a little bit more.

But, you know, I think it would have helped her a lot to have maybe a match of singles before obviously coming out to Wimbledon. But, you know, she's Serena. She can do whatever she wants (smiling).

Q. How well do you know Larry Scott, who is leading players to push the Grand Slams?

TOMMY PAUL: I don't know him very well, no.

Q. Have you interacted with him?

TOMMY PAUL: No.

Q. Not at all?

TOMMY PAUL: No.

Q. What are the things that happen that indicate to you that you're playing well, that you're starting to feel it? Are any of those things happening these days?

TOMMY PAUL: I don't know. I guess just feeling like I made a lot more return games, feeling I'm getting to 30 on return games more, feeling like I'm coming up with big serves when I need them.

I think those are key indicators that you're playing good tennis and not missing returns. You know, when you have your racquet on the ball, putting a lot of returns in, I just feel like that puts a lot of pressure on your opponent to hold your service games.

If you're putting pressure on him and making him feel it every time, I feel like eventually you will break serve. That's what most of men's tennis is about.

Q. When you're putting pressure on and eventually will break serve, when you don't do that, what's the tipping point that it becomes, Okay, I keep getting close, but... I have always been curious about that, whether it's positive or negative.

TOMMY PAUL: It's a good question, because sometimes you'll play a match and, for five games, you'll hold serve at love, and the other guy will hold serve saving breakpoints every time, and then he'll have one breakpoint and he'll break. You're, like, Wow, I had eight breakpoints and he won the set.

But that's just tennis, you know. It's creating opportunities on the big points, not just getting to them.

I mean, you've got to try new things. You have to sometimes play a little bit more aggressive, sometimes put more balls to it, make sure you make the return. I mean, it totally depends on who you're playing.

Q. Have you checked who you're playing next?

TOMMY PAUL: I think Hubi, right?

Q. How do you look forward to that match?

TOMMY PAUL: Excited. I think third round at Wimbledon is exciting no matter who you're playing. And then we all know Hubi can play some awesome tennis on grass, and it seems like he's finding his form here this week. Should be a really exciting match.

Q. How do you deal with weird things that can happen on grass, just mentally? Do you have to approach it differently with bounces and let cords kind of drop over, things like that?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, before grass, we're on clay, and bounces I would argue are worse on the clay. I don't know. I think it's part of tennis.

We were actually talking, I don't know if there is a sport that there is more luck involved over the course of the whole match than tennis. And it's, like, how you deal with that kind of stuff that makes somebody good or not good, you know.

It's so mental and so much good and bad luck involved that, I mean, you really got to know how to handle the situations, I think.

Q. What things do you consider lucky in tennis?

TOMMY PAUL: I mean, you know, there could be a shank that you hit a winner on. It could be a let cord that goes over. It could be a bounce that, I mean, doesn't bounce at all. I mean, it could be a let during the point when you're ahead.

I mean, it's just like a lot of little things, you know.

Q. Have you been watching any of the soccer? England playing today. Should be a good atmosphere in town. U.S. is playing quite late.

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I don't think I will stay up for it, but...

Q. Nice to be in a country that's so into soccer?

TOMMY PAUL: (Pause.)

Yeah. (Smiling.)