US OPEN

September 6, 2026

Tommy Paul

Press Conference

C. ALCARAZ/T. Paul

6-4, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Tommy, obviously not the result that you wanted. Just your overall thoughts on the match.

TOMMY PAUL: I don't know. I mean, I feel like he was playing very fast, hitting his forehand well. It felt like he kind of just outplayed me, was playing on a different level than me.

I think there were a lot of things I could have done better, but I could have done a lot of things better and still lost that match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You've played Carlos a lot over a range of years at this point now and --

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, it's getting worse.

Q. How would you assess his level? There are a lot of question marks about how he would be after four months off. What have you seen in terms of his level midway through this tournament?

TOMMY PAUL: I thought he played pretty good. He's still hitting his forehand hard and off the court.

I feel like he's maybe mixing things up on the return a little bit more. Maybe I think going into the match I saw, like, his first-serve speed maybe was dropped a little bit from before he took time off, but I thought he made up with it with his first ball after his serve.

I felt like every time I returned -- granted, I don't think I returned that well off the second serve as, like, maybe I have in past matches with him, but I feel like he did a great job with the first ball. Put me on the run immediately.

Q. He mentioned on the court about the pressure that he put on you with his return, and I was wondering if you could sort of talk through what it was like to serve against him today and what he was doing successfully on your serve?

TOMMY PAUL: I think on first serve he did a good job of most every ball he had his strings on, he put it back in the court and deep. Then on second serves, I mean, like I said before, he was kind of mixing up his stance a little bit.

Starting early in the match he was closer to the baseline trying to take my second serve early. Then he backed up end of the first, and most of the second he backed up, took all my second serves from deep.

Then basically after he got the break in the third, he went back up again. I think he was trying to apply extra pressure by coming in. Yeah, I mean, I think he definitely wanted to make points quick and kind of rush me.

Q. How was your game plan different today against him coming in as opposed to other times you've played him? Do you feel like until 4-All in the first set you were executing it how you wanted?

TOMMY PAUL: Yes and no. I mean, I think I was sticking around. I think he was holding serve a lot easier up until 4-All still.

I think today for me to compete and play well against Carlos, I got to hit my backhand cross a lot better than I did today. He was finding forehands off of every single backhand cross, and it felt like he put me -- he got on offense much quicker.

I wasn't able to find my way to the net, which is -- I mean, I got to spend more time in neutral and get to the net more. Today, like I said, I wasn't able to do that, because he was killing me with the neutral balls. He was getting from neutral to offense so fast.

Q. Just curious, how do you kind of adjust to a loss like this where you know the level would have taken -- what it would have taken to kind of push him, I guess?

TOMMY PAUL: It sucks, you know? It felt like he's playing at a completely different level than me, which is, like I said in the beginning, like, I could have played a lot better and still lost that match.

I was talking to my team right after the match. It sucks, because you feel like, shit, like it's tough to kind of win these matches against him, but at the same time, you learn a lot every time you play him.

I mean, every time I've played him, we've gone to the practice court with new ideas of what he does well and what I can try and put into my game. Obviously it hasn't panned out so great so far in my matches with him lately, but at least I'll go back to the practice court with some ideas and some stuff I know I'll need to work on.

Q. I also wanted to ask, I consider you one of the best defenders, like movers on the tour. What is it like to face his forehand when he's hitting it so big as he was?

TOMMY PAUL: There's not much defending it, you know? Especially when he hits it the way he wants to.

But that's kind of what I'm saying. For me, I need to hit my backhand much better to not allow him to hit forehands from that backhand corner. I mean, that's where his forehand is deadly.

Of course, he can hit forehands on this side of the court, as well, but yeah, I mean, I don't want to have to be running down balls the entire match. Like, if I got to do it, you know, a couple of times a game, totally fine. But if he's on offense just front-foot forehands the whole match, he's probably going to win the match.

Q. Sort of a similar question about that idea that even if you had played better, it wouldn't have been enough. Is that a sentiment that you've come away from matches with him in the past feeling, and throughout your career when you've felt that way after a match, how have you allowed that to process without demotivating you in the future?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I mean, I think -- I'm not saying that, like, I couldn't play unbelievable and beat him. I'm just saying, like, the gap in our levels today was huge, and it's a terrible feeling when you are playing.

But, yeah, I mean, I think, like, I just had to do a lot better. What I'm trying to say is I could have, you know, played a lot better and still lost in four, still lost in five. Like, I would have to really bring my level up a ton and play the match much more on my terms to win that.

Q. When he is playing as he did today and based on everything you just said, what do you think it is for the whole field, not just for yourself, to go up against him?

TOMMY PAUL: What do I think it is?

Q. Yeah. I mean, the challenge to face Carlos when he is playing the way he is today, not just for you, but for everybody.

TOMMY PAUL: I mean, it's a tough task. He's a great champion, and when he plays well, I mean, he brings a level of tennis to the court that is -- I mean, it's amazing. You have to play every ball with quality.

It doesn't matter who you are, you have to bring your best tennis to compete with him when he's playing at that level.

Q. Every injury and every person is different, but for a top-level pro like yourself or others, what's a reasonable expectation to come back after four months without playing a competitive match at a Grand Slam?

TOMMY PAUL: I mean, Carlos is different, I guess. Like you said, it's so different for everyone.

For me it takes a couple of tournaments to come back and feel great or at least, like, a couple of close matches and then maybe you feel a little better, which I mean, I feel like maybe he kind of had that earlier in the tournament.

But it's impressive to take time off like that and come back and feel, play as good as he has. I wouldn't be able to do it, for sure.

Q. Thinking back to when you won two of your first three matches against Carlos, I'm wondering if you can talk about some of the specific things you used to do that worked against him that maybe just don't work anymore against the player that he's become?

TOMMY PAUL: I mean, I guess earlier on when he was earlier in his career, I think you were able to slice backhands cross, and he would kind of just hit backhands. Now if you hit a slice backhand cross, he's moving over and hitting a forehand.

Like something going into the match that we were talking about was trying not to slice, because it's almost not effective if you don't absolutely knife that thing cross. He's going to find a forehand and put you on the run. I think that's something that's different.

Then I think his returns and his second serve have improved a ton over the past couple of years. He mixes his second serve up a lot, makes it a lot tougher for you to attack his second serve.

He's improved most of his game, honestly.