AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 25, 2023

Tommy Paul

Press Conference

T. PAUL/B. Shelton

7-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Into your first Grand Slam semifinal and a guaranteed top-20 ranking after this tournament. What are the feelings right now, and it's not over yet?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, man, I'm really excited. It wasn't like the prettiest match ever today, but it was how I needed to play the match. It was how the match I felt like was always going to be. He's a great server. I had to just put in as many returns as I could.

But I'm really excited, man. It's really cool. I think it's even cooler if I do play - I think I saw Novak 5-1 in the first or something. That's probably who I want to play. I mean, probably have a better chance of winning if it's Rublev, but to play Novak here in Australia would be awesome.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You haven't played Novak before. Have you ever practiced? Do you chat?

TOMMY PAUL: I saw him in the locker room after I finished my match. He said, Congrats. Not too much. I think we have practiced before. I mean, I'm sure we practiced before. But, yeah, we never played a match against each other. Obviously he's pretty comfortable here in Australia. It's going to be a challenging match.

But I'm playing some of my best tennis, so it's a good time.

Q. You mentioned on court about your mom being here. Could you tell us a little more. When did her trip begin, from where? Did you get a chance to see her before the match or after? What did it mean to you to have her there?

TOMMY PAUL: I mean, it was awesome. I was actually, when I first heard, pretty nervous because we've had a good thing going here and I didn't really want to change anything.

I mean, after a little bit of thinking, I was like, Yeah, I'm in the quarterfinals of a slam. She's, like, done a lot for me, I mean, from when I was really young until now. She's sacrificed a ton to get me here. She deserves to be here and deserves to see me win big matches.

I was really excited to see her and have her here. I saw her before the match. She came to the hotel right before I left for the courts to come warm up. Then obviously I saw her right before the match, before I went out. Then I saw her in the box.

It was really exciting. It's really nice to have her here.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the transition from being a top junior to the senior tour, making a semifinal? I've read in the past you regretted some of the decisions you made early on, the journey to get to this point.

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, every junior to pro has a different path. Obviously Fritz, me and him, had a lot of like really good matches in finals of junior slams. He made the jump into the pros really quickly. He's been doing great ever since.

Reilly has had a different path. Big Foe has had a different path. Mine has been, like, the slowest. I like to think of the last four years of my career has just been like steady steps moving up. I mean, that's what it's felt like.

I feel like hopefully 2023 is the year where I really make a big jump and push into the top 15, top 10. That's where I want to be ultimately.

Q. The comment about regretting some of the things in the past, can you expand on that, if you're willing to?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I mean, I wish I went to college, like, straight after the juniors. If I were to do it again, I would have went to college for a year or two.

I don't know, I try and not at this point, like, look back and regret too much. Obviously everything that happened, I learned from it. It made me who I am today. It made me the player I am today.

I'm pretty satisfied with who I am right now. Obviously not satisfied quite yet with the tournament. Hopefully we can keep going. But, yeah...

Q. There's been a lot of engaging stories about the Americans here in Melbourne. Do you feel you've been flying under the radar as one of the Americans here? How would that tag make you feel?

TOMMY PAUL: Oh, yeah, I mean, I've been on the outside courts grinding until the round of 16. I think I've been flying under the radar a little bit.

Hasn't been, like, easy matches. First round I played a great match. Second round I had an absolute war. Then I played I think Brooksby on Court 3. I mean, we haven't had too many, like, big-name matchups. I wasn't on the inside courts for a bit.

I mean, it's hard to not fly under the radar when you're out in the park, you know (smiling).

Q. Did that bother you? Do you like being today in the spotlight of the biggest arena here? Are you okay with nobody paying as much attention?

TOMMY PAUL: My next match will be on Rod Laver, so I'm happy with that.

Q. Were you paying any attention or do you have any memories of Andy Roddick at the US Open in 2003? If so, what do you remember? Were you a fan of his?

TOMMY PAUL: I think that's like right when I started playing tennis. But, yeah, I mean, I remember I think at the place where I grew up playing tennis, we had the posters of him when he won in his Reebok fit. I was actually salty when he switched to Lacoste. I was like, He's not going to win another slam now. I thought it was the outfits (smiling).

Yeah, I mean, I remember it, but just -- I don't actually remember watching the match. It was definitely something that I remember, Roddick winning the US Open.

Q. Do you feel like it's been a bit of a whirlwind or do you feel you may feel that more after this event is over?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I haven't felt anything yet. I'm still in the Australian Open, still have another match to play, and hopefully ideally have another two matches to play.

I'm not really worried about that stuff right now. Yeah, I mean, I have another match in two days that I'm worried about.

Q. I would love to hear about your relationship with Nick Kyrgios. I understand you two are pretty close. Is that true?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I mean, I think he's an insane talent in the sport. I think it's hard not to watch him play. Him and Frances are like my two favorite people to watch. If he's on TV and I'm at the tournament, like, I'm watching his matches because it's the most entertaining stuff.

I mean, I was bummed to hear that he had to pull out of this tournament right before because I was really looking forward to watching him play.

But, yeah, I mean, I think he's going to have a good year. He obviously turned it up last year, played amazing. Looking forward to seeing him play.

Q. You're the first American man in the semis here since Roddick almost 15 years ago. A long time since an American man won one of these things. Does it matter to you, the idea of putting American men's tennis back on the map? What sort of future do you see now with a whole group of you climbing up?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, it's important to me. American tennis is, since I was young, that's all we've been hearing, since like 14 years old. The coaches have been telling us, We need new Americans, we need new Americans. It's kind of engraved in my head.

We all want to perform. Obviously Frances was pretty damn close at US Open to getting past the semis. Who knows what would have happened in the finals.

Yeah, I mean, I think we all want it pretty bad for ourselves, but we want it for U.S. tennis, too.