THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 7, 2024

Tommy Paul

Press Conference

T. PAUL/R. Bautista Agut

6-2, 7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Good to get that under your belt today and how are you feeling?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, pretty good. It was a long day waiting around. I was happy to get that match in before it got too dark. It was weird conditions out there, like I said, waiting around all day.

Never been on court where the sun was drilling us, you couldn't really see too much for most of the second set on one side of the court. That went down and it got really comfortable out there for me and I started playing some great tennis there in the third set.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What time did you get to the site today? What do you do all day? Do you have to keep your body warm, your mind clear?

TOMMY PAUL: Let's see. What time did I get here? Probably like 9:15 in the morning. So I was here a while. It started raining right before I was about to go on the warm-up court. I kind of waited around there for about an hour and a half. Ended up getting 10 minutes there, then kind of waited in the locker room. They have like a golf club, a putter, and some golf balls. We were doing some putting competitions in there for like three hours.

The match before me, I think it was a set and 5-2 the other way, so I kind of knew I had some time. On both of the breaks I knew I had at least 30 minutes before I go on. I didn't have to warm up too many times in the gym or anything, which was nice.

Q. You hit 11 aces today. You have Carlos next round. How big of a weapon will your serve be?

TOMMY PAUL: The serve is always the most important shot in men's tennis. That will be something that I'll want to do very well in my next round. But the return's also a very important shot.

Serve and return are big for me. We both play a pretty aggressive style of tennis. He's been playing pretty well and ultra aggressive. I mean, it's fun for people to watch. Honestly, it's fun to play against. I'm really excited for the matchup.

Q. Have you been on one of the stadium courts here ever?

TOMMY PAUL: No, no, no. I played on Court 1, but I never played on Centre.

Q. You played on the No. 1 Court?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I played Norrie in 2022 on Court 1.

Q. You've been floating around the periphery so far. Do you think that's helped you in any way, not being in the spotlight? Would you prefer to be in the spotlight?

TOMMY PAUL: I don't really care. I just came here to play tennis. I don't care what court they put me on.

Q. How do you think it will be going out on Centre Court? Do you think it will be straightforward or a pretty big deal? Talk about the putting competition. Did you play? How is your putting?

TOMMY PAUL: Yeah, I mean, Centre Court Wimbledon's like probably the most iconic court in tennis. I'm more excited than anything. I don't think the schedule's been released. It's not confirmed that I'm on Centre.

Like I said, I don't care really where they put me. If it's Centre, then I'm happy. If it's Court 1, I'll be ready to play on Court 1.

My putting is horrible. I'm not a golfer at all.

Q. What do you recall if you watched Alcaraz win the championship here last year? What memories do you have of what you saw that day?

TOMMY PAUL: I'm trying to think. I mean, he was playing obviously amazing to win the title. He played his style of tennis, very aggressive. Very exciting to watch. I remember thinking it was an unbelievable match.

Before the match really not knowing who I thought was going to win the match. A lot of times in the past, Djokovic goes on to play, you're kind of thinking like, Djokovic is probably going to win this match. Before that match, you really had no idea who was going to win. Kind of just excited to see what happens.

It was an awesome match to watch.

Q. Does Frances become a part of your coaching team in the next day or two in terms of downloading from him what he saw?

TOMMY PAUL: I mean, we'll probably talk a little bit. I think two days ago, whenever they played, that was actually my first time ever going in the Centre Court at Wimbledon. I went to go watch that. I kind of just showed up a little late, though. I showed up the end of the fourth set. Didn't go great from there for him.

We talked a little bit today, but not too much about that, because he knew I had another match to play before I even got there. But we'll probably talk a little bit, yeah.