US OPEN

August 30, 2026

Tommy Paul

Press Conference

T. PAUL/C. Wong

6-7, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Assess your level of play today.

TOMMY PAUL: I would say for, like, 80% of the match it was pretty high, and then I had a little lapse there in the end of the first set where I don't think I played very well at all. But for the most part, I think I came out swinging, and balls were landing where I wanted them to. Once I kind of picked up the energy after the first set, I feel like everything kind of went pretty well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Were there any adjustments you had to make from end of the first set into the second? It looked like in the tiebreaker you were mistiming a couple of balls. You weren't quite hitting the groundstrokes as solid. Was there anything you did to sort of get back to the level you previously were at?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I think it was just kind of raising the intensity. I feel like maybe once I got up a break in the first set, I kind of relaxed a little bit. Can't do that.

Then, like, after I lost the first, I kind of just told myself to bring more energy. It doesn't have to be like big come-ons or anything. Just really trying to bring energy to my feet in between my serve and first ball or return and first ball.

Q. When you've been healthy the last couple of years you've been pretty consistent, and I'm just sort of curious, it seems like right now you're in a little bit of an inconsistent patch since Wimbledon. Do you have a sense of you know the kind of tennis you're going to play when you step out onto the court these days, or has it been a little bit more of a mystery the last month or so?

TOMMY PAUL: I don't know. That's a great question. I mean, I like to think, you know, in practice you kind of get an idea of how you're playing, and I would say the more practice I have, the better I usually play.

After I guess Montreal, I had a pretty -- I went straight to Cincinnati, had a nice little training week there. I mean, just training well and training hard boosts confidence, and when you have confidence, I feel like -- at least when I have confidence, I feel like I can play pretty consistently well.

But, yeah, I mean, I think the week leading into this tournament, I've had a lot of great practices. I think for the most part I played pretty good tennis today, too.

Q. I wanted to ask you a little bit about Carlitos coming back and having not played in four and a half months. From your perspective, what's it like when you come back and play your first competitive match after an injury? You've done that before. Maybe not at a slam like this, but how difficult is it? What are some of the pitfalls you can run into? Is it tricky for him especially because he's doing it at a slam, in your opinion?

TOMMY PAUL: I mean, it's so different for everybody, and it's different depending on what you're dealing with. For me it was lower body, so my timing on the ball never really went away, but my movement might have gone away.

I think his was his wrist, so he's probably moving great and maybe not timing the ball as well. I'm not sure. I mean, he could be playing unbelievable. We'll see.

I mean, it's not easy, but he's a great player and a great champion, so I'm sure if he's feeling good, he'll figure it out.

Q. How would you assess the prospects for the U.S. men this year? What do you think it's going to take to actually get over the line for one of you guys?

TOMMY PAUL: What do you mean, how would I assess them?

Q. Do you think the American men are at the top of the contenders this year?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I do. You look at Montreal, Cincinnati, and there were a lot of Americans in that last weekend in both of those tournaments. I say weekend. I think the finals in Montreal was, like, Wednesday or something.

Yeah, I mean, I think the Americans have been playing great tennis leading into the US Open. This is always where we want to play well. This is always where we have, I guess, the most energy going into matches.

Ben is playing tremendous tennis. Foe is playing great tennis. Nakashima is playing great. I mean, I think we have a lot of people playing really well. I mean, I think it's exciting. To get across the line, I'm not sure. Obviously we're going to have to play really, really good tennis and really clutch tennis.

For most of us I think it's actually important later in the tournament to get the crowd going behind you, and I think that's something that will happen here this year.

Q. Talking about the week leading up to the tournament, I don't think we have the numbers yet, but it felt like there were a lot of people on the grounds for fan week and the week leading up more so than previous years. I was wondering what it was like for you having to navigate that and what you made of the energy on the grounds.

TOMMY PAUL: I totally agree. The week before the Open this year, it felt like everyone was here, like, from Sunday the week before. It's great in terms of practices. You know, we're getting really good practices, but it's not great in terms of gym space. I feel like everyone is up there trying to get their work in before the tournament starts.

I don't know. I mean, for the Europeans, they're not going to go home. For me, I would have went home leading into this tournament if I lost earlier in Cincinnati, but I mean, it's better for me to just come straight here, practice on the courts that you're going to play on, and get used to the conditions.

I mean, it's been great so far for me. I think the practices leading into my match, I'll get to practice on Armstrong twice before playing on it, so I think that's pretty nice.

Q. Are things different when you have those kinds of crowds, like they're cheering after practice points, things like that?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, they're different, but we've been doing it for so long, I think everyone is pretty much used to it. Yeah, it's a little different, but...

Q. I want to follow up on the question about Americans. You've sort of grown up in a way with Aleksandar Kovacevic. How do you think he can bring his level up to join that top rank or, you know, to come up in the ranks and join the other Americans who have really made big runs and made big movements in the rankings?

TOMMY PAUL: Kove is an extremely talented player and one of the better -- when I'm practicing with him, he's one of the better players in practice. For him it's just consistency, you know, having results, result after result. It seems maybe sometimes he can be a little sporadic in terms of results, but to make that jump, it's just about being a tough out more often.

Q. It hasn't been an unsuccessful major for you, but just in terms of results, your least successful. I was wondering what challenges you think you've faced over the years coming into this tournament, and are you coming into it with any different kind of mindset or approach that you haven't taken in the past?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I don't know. Last year I had challenges with my body. The year before I had challenges with Sinner. I don't know, I think it's been unfortunate sometimes coming into this tournament. I mean, always obviously excited to play it and wanting to do well here, but I don't know.

I mean, I feel like I've played better tennis here than probably at Roland Garros. It just hasn't quite worked out, I guess.

Q. I'm sorry if you've been asked this 100 times before. Did you do what de Minaur did around his wedding and just put his racquets away for 10, 12 days? It just made me think of it because you were saying how you get confidence from training and having good practices.

TOMMY PAUL: Well, no, I didn't. I mean, I literally took my trainer on my honeymoon (laughing). Yeah, I mean, it's just practicing with tour-level players. I wasn't able to do that as much. Obviously I was -- I think to prepare for tournaments you have to be so locked in in practice, and it's hard.

When you're getting married, that's, like, No. 1 on the priority list. Luckily, I've had quite a while now of training hard and a lot of prep for the US Open. It's a tricky thing, honestly.