As a new Grand Slam year launched at Australian Open 2023, a powerful narrative emerged. American tennis was thriving, with a string of career-best performances at Melbourne Park setting the tone for the season ahead.
Tommy Paul was delighted to play a starring role.
A former world No.3 junior, the 25-year-old was renowned for his all-round athleticism and impressive work ethic. But in 11 Grand Slam campaigns until then, Paul had progressed just once to the second week, reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon the previous year.
That all changed in Melbourne, where he claimed wins over Jan-Lennard Struff, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Jenson Brooksby, Roberto Bautista Agut and the headline-grabbing Ben Shelton to become the first American man to reach an Australian Open semifinal since Andy Roddick in 2009.
“I’m really excited,” said Paul during the career-defining performance, which propelled him from world No.35 and into the world’s top 20 for the first time. “It's like every person's dream when they start playing tennis to play the big matches at the Slams.”
The team-spirited Paul – who became only the third active male player from his nation, alongside John Isner and Frances Tiafoe, to reach a major semifinal – cherished both the individual milestone and its positive impact on American tennis.
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“It's important to me,” he smiled. “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.”
Paul maintained that positive outlook after Novak Djokovic halted his charge in the AO semifinals, insisting that the career-best performance could provide a springboard for even bigger things to come.
“(It was) a great, great two weeks for me. Obviously (I’ve) got to carry it throughout the whole season. It's about consistency,” he said.
“I don't want to be a one-hit wonder."
In a personal-best season, Paul proved far from that. The American underlined his top-20 credentials just weeks later, when he fought for almost three-and-a-half to outlast Taylor Fritz in the Acapulco semifinals.
While he fell in the final to Alex de Minaur at the ATP 500 tournament, it was one of two runner-up performances (the other coming on the grass courts of Eastbourne) for the year.
There was another headline-grabbing high point in Toronto, where he stunned world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz to reach an ATP Masters 1000 semifinal for the first time.
“I like playing anyone that's, like, a big challenge. He's, obviously, right now, the best player in the world,” said Paul, who ended Alcaraz’s 14-match winning streak and backed up an earlier win over the Spaniard at Montreal in 2022.
“You're always going to be on Centre Court when you're playing No.1 in the world, and I really enjoy playing those matches.”
Paul eventually progressed to the quarterfinals or better of 10 tournaments through 2023 and reached the fourth round of his home Grand Slam, the US Open, for the first time.
Peaking at world No.12 in October, he was one of four men from his nation to rank inside the world’s top 15.
It placed the top-10 echelon tantalising within reach for the New Jersey-born Paul, who showed he has the mentality to complement his versatility and physical weapons as he saved three match points against Richard Gasquet in the Paris Masters first round.
Still, ranking goals are far from a priority for the now 26-year-old Paul. “I know that if I perform really well that it's there,” he commented at the Shanghai Masters, where he was one of 10 American men in the field. “I'm more focused on performing well.”
With 41 match wins in his career-best season, consistency has become a trademark for the hard-working American.
As he targets his return to the scene of his best Grand Slam performance, you can’t help thinking that come January, a quietly confident Paul will be poised to shine in the spotlight again.