Sports Illustrated: So far my year has been blank?<\/p>\n
Tommy Paul: So far my year has been, I would say, eventful, pretty eventful. And a lot of travel.<\/p>\n
SI: When you consider your career overall so far, what is the biggest source of pride that you have, or what are you most happy and excited about?<\/p>\n
TP: I would say, the people around me, like having great people around me my whole career. I take pride in that, and obviously loyalty to those great people and their loyalty to me. I think that\u2019s something that I take a lot of pride in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
SI: What is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started your career?<\/p>\n
TP: I guess, surround yourself with good people, but that\u2019s kind of a cop-out. That\u2019s a great question. I think, invest in yourself and believe in yourself from the jump, and don\u2019t go through the motions. You know, when you go through the motions, it catches up to you. Make sure you do everything 100% awesome.<\/p>\n
SI: You don\u2019t speak a ton about your injuries, but it\u2019s clear sometimes you take the court when you might be feeling less than 100%. What should fans know about you, know when players go out when they\u2019re less than 100%. What\u2019s the biggest challenge when doing so?\u00a0<\/p>\n
TP: I think a lot of fans in some ways respect it; and then a lot of fans in other ways don\u2019t like it, and I don\u2019t think that they understand. I mean, I don\u2019t want to be out there hurting any more than you don\u2019t want to watch an injured player. But I want to win and I want to compete. It\u2019s what I\u2019ve done my entire life. And if I have to go out there hurting and try and win, I\u2019m going to do it \u2026 unless it\u2019s, you know, to the point where it\u2019s going to take me out for way too long, then obviously I\u2019m going to pull the plug. But it\u2019s part of the sport in some ways. I mean, you\u2019re never going to watch a player that doesn\u2019t have one thing wrong with them. Everyone\u2019s playing through something. It\u2019s just the severity is always a little bit different. It\u2019s not that we want to be playing hurt. It\u2019s that we kind of have to be in some ways.<\/p>\n
SI: If we looked right now, what apps would have the most use on your phone?<\/p>\n
TP: It\u2019s a good question. Probably like, ESPN is up there. I would say Instagram is up there, and then, like, I have this, like, the windy app, where it like, checks the ocean and the weather for you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
SI: You were born in May 1997. Novak Djokovic was born in May 1987. What are the odds that you\u2019re doing this in 10 years?\u00a0<\/p>\n
TP: Wow, that\u2019s crazy. That\u2019s crazy. What are the odds I\u2019m doing this in 10 years? Shoot, I don\u2019t know \u2026 25% chance?\u00a0<\/p>\n
SI: How much can a tennis player improve their speed?\u00a0<\/p>\n
TP: I think you can definitely improve your speed. I think, I mean a lot of fast-twitch lifting in terms of, like, moving weight very fast. Obviously, you gotta create a base and lifting heavier, and then towards the end, moving less weight, but moving it very fast, and developing this fast-twitch muscles, and then obviously, just a lot of speed work, a lot of moving side-to-side. I think the biggest thing to improve on your speed would be your form. You got to have your form well. So if you can improve in those two categories, you’re going to improve your speed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
SI:\u00a0 Best movie, show or, you know, YouTube video that you\u2019ve seen in 2026 so far?<\/p>\n
TP: On the way back from Indian Wells, I watched like, three more episodes, and it was Your Friends & Neighbors.<\/p>\n
SI: What is going to happen first? You move to Fresno, or your coach, Brad Stine, moves to Florida. How do you manage the distance? And, you know, does it help to sometimes have some space from your coach?<\/p>\n
TP: Well, Brad\u2019s lived in Florida before, so I would say there\u2019s a better chance of him moving to Florida. I\u2019ve never even been to Fresno, so it\u2019s a pretty low chance I ever move there. In terms of, you know, how do we manage it? We have an unbelievable setup with my other coach, Hugo Armando, who lives down here in South Florida. He does so much work behind the scenes that nobody talks about, basically everything that we work on, it\u2019s run through Hugo and through Brad. So I would say we manage it by having Hugo here and then on the road, Brad handles all my tournaments, for the most part, but Hugo is a real lifesaver for us.<\/p>\n
SI: So your new New Balance PE is as much about your love of nature as your love for tennis. Where do you source your love for the outdoors?<\/p>\n
TP: Just growing up being outside so much and loving doing it, whether it was fishing or hunting or just playing tennis. I mean, I always wanted to be outside. I was never one of those kids that was on Xbox or PlayStation playing too many video games or anything. I always wanted to be outside doing whatever. I mean, we would be building a tree house or doing something ridiculous, you know, I just, I think it\u2019s something that really made me who I am, and it\u2019s something that I just enjoy doing so much.<\/p>\n
SI: We don\u2019t see camo a lot in tennis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
TP: Yeah, I can\u2019t remember the last time I saw camo in tennis. So to have something that looks so good and then also is different from what everyone else is seeing, I think it\u2019s a complete bonus. I think it\u2019ll turn some heads.<\/p>\n
![\"Tommy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01kmgnt5g765wzjg43dh.jpg\" "\\"Tommy")
<\/p>\n
Tommy Paul helped launch the CT-Rally v2 “Outdoor Court” edition tennis shoe with New Balance. | Courtesy of New Balance<\/p>\n
SI: Andy Reid, Doug Pederson or Nick Sirianni, who\u2019s the best coach?<\/p>\n
TP: Oh, my God, I would take out Doug Pederson, pretty immediately, even though he gave us a Super Bowl title. But I\u2019m gonna go Sirianni, just because it hurts to see Andy Reid in Kansas City.<\/p>\n
SI: It will be a successful year if …<\/p>\n
TP: If all the stuff that we\u2019re working on right now works.<\/p>\n
Q&A<\/p>\n
Is [Valentin] Vacherot good?<\/p>\n
J\/B., Portland<\/p>\n
\u2022 He is definitely good. Winning majors good? Maybe not. But a credible top-shelf player? Absolutely. Everyone, well, not everyone, but many can have a magical week, as Vacherot did in Shanghai. But look at what he\u2019s done since. He\u2019s won a bunch of matches on different surfaces, made a doubles final and pierced the top 25. Maybe most importantly, he\u2019s taken virtually no bad losses. He\u2019s 6′ 4″. He hits as hard as most players. If anything, the real question is: How in the world did someone with this much game and size and weaponry take so long to emerge? For perspective, a year ago this week, he lost in straight sets to a player ranked No. 609. Vacheto ranked No. 265, earning $365 for the week.<\/p>\n
Just read your segment on the Brett Haber\u2013stat attribution controversy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I guess I just didn\u2019t realize that TV guys do the stats themselves? Apologies to Habes, a fellow Marylander like me, but I just always assumed someone (Sharko???) fed stats to the TV people. Every baseball game I watch says something like \u201cStats provided by Stats Inc.\u201d Does Tennis Channel not have stats providers? I mean, if B-Habes came up with this nugget, he should say so on air when he drops that knowledge! (Maybe he did, idk.)<\/p>\n
Do they all do their own stats? Or does it vary like actors who do their own stunts? Does Prakash sit down at a seaside trattoria on the Amalfi Coast at sunset, pour a glass of Chianti, spritz some Sauvage by Dior into the air, sharpen his pencil, punch his calculator, and crunch out some stats?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know that the rule should be on attribution but the notion that it\u2019s \u201cjust facts\u201d isn\u2019t the best argument for non-attribution. Gravity has been a fact forever but we still give Newton credit for discovering it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anyway, you\u2019re right\u2014it\u2019s an interesting question.\u00a0<\/p>\n
P. <\/p>\n
\u2022 One of my hot takes: At the time, when trust in the media is not exactly soaring, some of this could be addressed by greater transparency about the process. So any how-things-are-done questions? I\u2019m especially happy to answer those.<\/p>\n
There are various ways to obtain research. Tennis Channel has its own researchers. As does ESPN. Both tours send research packets almost daily, filled with nuggets. Sometimes the tournament offers broadcast packets as well. (Side issue: I understand marketing and dynamics here, but the packets\u2014while invaluable\u2014seldom traffic in anything negative or unflattering to a player. Aces, winners and streaks are easy to come by. A player could double-fault 20 straight times, or all eight wild cards could fail to win a set, and rest assured, it will not be accounted for.)<\/p>\n
Anyway, some broadcasters\u2014Brett among them; Brett perhaps chief among them\u2014do their own homework. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina squandering match points is not something you\u2019d find in a packet. Brett did the work here. I understand why he would be miffed about not being credited.<\/p>\n
A discussion for another time: There\u2019s a long conversation to be had\u2014and this is hardly unique to tennis\u2014about attribution. And I plead guilty here, too. Ben Rothenberg, to pick a name at random, asks a question in a press conference. He formulates the idea and risks the response. Then a clip gets posted, and the world has access to the fruits of his labor.<\/p>\n