By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Sunday, May 25, 2025
Photo credit: Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Spinning his wheels in the opening set, Tommy Paul found his feet, accelerated his swing and charged into the Roland Garros second round for the fifth time.
Amid an unruly wind, Paul tamed Danish lucky loser Elmer Moller 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.
Empowered by his run to his second straight Rome semifinal, Paul scored his seventh win in his last nine clay-court matches. His only two losses in that span came against world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the Rome semifinals and to Indian Wells champion Jack Draper in Madrid.
On a day in which two compatriots—No. 28-seeded Brandon Nakashima and No. 32-seeded Alex Michelsen fell on Court No. 14—Paul joined his former roommate, Reilly Opelka, in rallying into round two. Opelka overcame Aussie Rinky Hijikata 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6(3).
The 12th-seeded Paul will try to keep moving in round two against 33-year-old Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.
Unlike many American men, Paul is a smooth mover on dirt.
The 2015 Roland Garros boys’ champion grew up playing on Har-Tru (American green-clay) at a health club/tennis center his parents owned in Greenville, N.C.
Asked today about the art of sliding, Paul said it comes down to court sense and split-second decisions.
“It’s definitely an advantage to be able to move confidently and slide confidently,” Paul told the media in Paris. “I mean, there’s times to slide and hit, and there’s times to hit and slide.
“Being able to make those decisions in split seconds is very important. I mean, movement in general in this sport is almost everything. It’s so important. You got to be able to move as well as possible. It definitely could help me. I don’t know that I’ve always been the best mover on clay, but I definitely feel like I’ve improved a ton.”
Paul is a dynamic mover on all surfaces and has learned to use his speed as an offensive weapon rather than a retrieval skill.
During his run to the Rome final four, Paul generated global headlines sharing his beloved Ford F-150 truck was repossessed from his driveway—a moment he reviewed in disbelief through security camera video while in the Eternal City.
The 28-year-old Florida resident said today he switched banks and simply forgot to update his auto pay—though Paul conceded he was surprised by how quickly the Repo Man did his work.
“I just changed banking and forgot to set up auto pay on my truck. I missed I think it was like three payments,” Paul told the media in Paris. “They came and took it. I didn’t know it happened like that.”
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A little digital detective work helped Paul see his truck was repossessed and not stolen as he originally feared.
“I’m going back and scrolling and seeing what happened to my truck. I’m like, What the hell is going on?” Paul said. “There’s a tow truck coming and taking my car. I thought it was stolen at first.
“My first thought wasn’t like, you know, auto pay (laughter). But yeah, ended up being repo’d.”
Regaining his Ford F-150 truck has sparked two changes in Paul: he’s more diligent monitoring auto-pay and he’s become an avid viewer of Repo Reality TV shows.
“I didn’t know how quick they would come and grab it, like in the middle of the night,” Paul said. “Now I’m watching all these repo shows where they come in and swoop trucks at 1 in the morning. It’s definitely a funny experience. To be in Europe while it happened is even crazier. But we did get it back.”
Playing all-court tennis, Paul raced out through a 6-1 opening set vs. Sinner in the Rome semifinals only to see the world No. 1 leave the American in the dust winning 12 of the final 15 games.
A candid Paul said Sinner not only beat him he “exposed” him a bit, but hopes to learn from that Rome loss and at least match his best result in Paris, a third-round run last year.
“There were some things that he did that exposed me a little bit. I don’t really want to go too deep into it because I don’t want to give it all away,” Paul said. “I mean, he made some changes in the match that were great.
“I failed to adjust as well as he did. He picked up his level a ton. I think he won 9 or 10 games in a row, which, I mean, that hurts in the middle of the match.
“ I mean, somebody earlier in the week asked me, like, how good do you feel after winning the first set 6-1. I told them I felt great for five minutes, but then I lost nine games in a row. I didn’t get to live with that very long.”
