Tommy Paul Press Conference | 2024 US Open Round 2

how do you process this match compared to first round because tougher set than the second set than the retire I mean how do you process it only on the court an hour and 15 minutes as you go forward yeah I mean obviously first things first uh it sucks uh to finish a match like that especially um when the the level in the first set I thought was awesome on both sides of the court I love the way that he plays and uh I mean the way that I try and play is very similar to the way that he was playing in the first set so uh I mean I thought if you know if the first set level kept up through the entire match would have been a really really awesome match but uh I mean I picked up my level there in the in the second a lot and I could tell he was he was slowing down I didn't know what the problem was so you know I kind of got to ignore it and um kind of focus on myself well congratulations moving on to the third round thank you questions Mr Lewis hey Tommy Michael Lewis reflector um congratulations on the win talk to Eddie after the match and he told me his story of how long he's been following you um you were a kid who had Heroes and and looked up to other players and what does it mean to have a kid like him he said he's been following you since the challengers oh really yeah um what does it mean to have a kid like that who you know is going to be in your corner and is rooting you he said you guys have developed a little bit of a relationship yeah no I mean it's awesome I uh you know I was once a young kid coming to the qualifying here watching the matches um so I mean I'm I'm really happy to have him in my corner I'm happy to you know play for all the all the young kids watching tennis I mean I think playing out here as an American it's it's a special thing and we want to inspire the the next generation of players I I talked to him last year for the first time I didn't know he's been following me since the Challengers but I mean that's awesome and he was out here from my first round until 1:45 in the morning I don't know how his dad even let that happen but uh yeah but yeah I mean I I love uh having support from everybody out there I I read the Ben said the other day uh playing on the gr the grand stand had him feeling a little funky he said even felt like the court was slanted something like that I'm curious if you've ever had anything playing on the grand stand that the feel is different than some other courts here no I mean I think all the courts here are slanted um I think that's for the rain runoff but uh I think it's an awesome Court I love the the look of it I love the size I think it's a somewhat intimate court but also big enough to where it gets Rowdy um I played some played some good tennis on that court so I got no complaints really Tommy how would you describe the feeling round by round as Americans are sticking around and advancing um you know that's what that's what we all want to do so uh I guess you could say it feels like it's going according to plan um so far uh but you know every match is you know you got to lock in for for every match the first round is uh for me the most I have the most nerves going in the first round because you never really know what to expect I mean you you hit the practice courts here and maybe you're feeling the ball great and uh you know competition is much different than practice so you never know how you're going to come out and play and then once you get through that first round I feel like it's a a build of confidence and you you kind of get the ball rolling but what about the pickup for the other guys when one does well and this is something we've discussed it seems year after year but there are a lot of guys this year yeah no I me I think that's amazing I love having all the other Americans uh going deep in tournaments uh kind of rolling off of each other I don't I don't know that you know me watching One American win like helps me win but uh I mean I love seeing it and uh I think we have a really good group right now I'm I'm pretty excited I'm sure everyone's excited for the matchup tomorrow um I'm definitely going to be watching that yes young lady in the back hi Tommy I'm Mary Hawthorne WF Sports as an American player a favorite how is this tournament different than any other major well there's a lot more energy around um the grounds here it's one of the biggest I mean the biggest tournament in the world uh especially for us Americans we love playing here in front of the fans and we love uh playing on the biggest stages and the support is unlike any other tournament uh especially now with all the Americans that we have I think everyone's very very excited and uh you know it's we have crowds coming out to our practice I mean I've played this tournament many many times and uh for us I don't know that it's always been the case and it's really great to see Michael you and Brad have talked about your emotional maturity on the court and how much you've Advanced and how that has helped you rise up um tell me what sort of like five all in the first set and you have to challenge yourself you had a few break points earlier on tell me what is sort of your mental process what are you thinking about on the court to keep yourself sort of calm that eventually enables you to to have the big shots like you did well it's not always calm in the head you know that that four or five game was definitely edgy um I mean he played some good points and I felt like I couldn't get out of that game you know you you have some game points and he comes up with some good shots and I mean that's just tennis you know I we're playing grand stand at the US Open with the lights on I mean that's uh where you want to be and that's kind of what I tell myself uh and you know on the outside you always want to look look calm and that's kind of what I try and put on really there's been quite a lot of talk about how gambling ratchets up the level of online abuse what have you experienced and what are your thoughts about what's going on man that's a good question um you know I think there's two ways you could look at it obviously it brings a lot of attention to the sport um a lot more viewers to the sport which I think ultimately is is the goal uh but yeah I mean the online abuse I think some people get it bad some people don't everyone gets it um everyone has it but I think it's just part of the sport you know for us I think it's something that you got to deal with I try not to pay too much attention to it at all I mean you can look at messages I I get after matches and and like I mean they could probably Crush some people but you kind of just Breeze through it it's it's like nothing and you're kind of numb to it at some point okay David go David Kane tennis.com I no one ever wants to win by retirement I'm just curious what the recovery process is like because you know you know in a sense you're in the middle of a match and it ends sooner than you're expecting it to and how that is different than if you were playing a full length match yeah I mean it's it's super weird when you're in that um kind of situation because you're trying not to think you see him hurting on the other side of the court and you're trying not to think like oh when is he going to pull the plug you know when is he going to stop because as soon as you start getting those thoughts you kind of lose your focus so you're just focusing on yourself um and I knew he was struggling moving a bit so I was you know moving him going one in one and uh I mean like I said you just focus on yourself until uh he calls it and I don't know I feel bad like I don't want it to end that way but uh you know I'm happy to be into the next round anyway that happens like in the 10 20 minutes after the match is the come down different you know because you don't have the match point you don't have the the same like adrenaline of Celebration that you would normally have as normal match ends yeah definitely I mean you don't have the nerves of uh you know serving for the match or breaking for the match but uh like I said I mean we'll take it anyway they'll take the W Tommy thank you very much thank you