Tommy Paul is on a roll, arguably being the fastest rising star not just in American tennis but world tennis at present. Paul kickstarted his US Open 2023 campaign in style, with a victory over Italy’s unseeded player, Stefano Travaglia in the Round of 128. Although Paul was stretched to 4 sets in the match, the sets that he won were extremely convincing as the final scoreline was 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
As Tommy Paul is set to take on Roman Safiullin in the Round of 64, the win allowed the New Jersey-born player to rise to No.11 in the ATP rankings. Paul was ranked 14th until August 28 after a disappointing Cincinnati Masters campaign, which was derailed in the Round of 16 by the now World No.2, Carlos Alcaraz. But now, Paul has overtaken his fellow countryman, Frances Tiafoe and this jump could be significant for the health of American men’s tennis.
The Tommy Paul stock continues to grow
Fritz, the top ranked American men’s player in the world, jumped one place up to 8th in the ATP rankings on Tuesday. He too won his first round match in New York City, defeating another United States player, Steve Johnson in straight sets. Taylor Fritz went past US Open 2022 finalist Casper Ruud and Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the process, as the Norwegian stunningly lost 1155 points.
Coming back to Tommy Paul, he benefited the most from his good friend, Frances Tiafoe losing 675 points. As a result, Tiafoe dropped to the 14th place, swapping spots directly with Paul. This happened even as Paul lost 45 points himself despite the first round win.
Tommy Paul is currently at 2,525 points, while Frances Tiafoe still isn’t that far behind at 2,375 points. However, Paul has long been someone backed by pundits and fans to break into the top 10 due to his hard court prowess. Victories over players such as Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev have raised his profile on the Tour, so expectations are sky high from him.
How Paul can surpass Fritz
Although Taylor Fritz is at 3,640 points at the moment, Tommy Paul will surely need a run to the semifinals or the finals of the US Open in order to go past or get nearest to him in the rankings whenever it is updated after the tournament. This is because the gap is 1,265 points. But Paul’s rank could also be largely affected by the performances of Tiafoe, Zverev and Australia’s Alex de Minaur, as they are extremely close to him in the ATP rankings. Paul needs to finish off the hard court season in style and make the most of it, as it is his favorite surface.
Tommy Paul could take pride and confidence from the fact that he made it to the semifinals of the Australian Open 2023 against all odds. But the odds are with him this time, seeing the experience he has gained and the fact that the US Open is a much slower hard surface than the one he played in Melbourne. While many believe that Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner would mostly be the semi-finalists, Tommy Paul is undoubtedly the dark horse to watch out for.
