The Artist: Tommy Paul paints lines, clinches Indian Wells upset over Hubert Hurkacz

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—It’s one thing for a rising young tennis player to cite an iconic artist as inspiration. It’s another thing to bring that vision to life. Check off both boxes today for Tommy Paul. In a third-round match at the BNP Paribas Open that lasted nearly two hours, the 17th-seeded Paul beat ninth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Late last year, Paul told me how his coach, Brad Stine, had invoked the legendary artist, Pablo Picasso, as a stylistic role model.

“He likes to tell me to expose the creative side in my game,” Paul said this afternoon. “So, he wants me to use the drop shots, feel the positioning in the court a little bit more than just being super one dimensional.

“He wants me to use different paces, drop shot, come to the net, and he calls that being an artist.”

Today that notion came to life frequently. If for some players a racquet is simply a power tool, Paul can wield it more like a paintbrush. This was a dazzling display of movement, speed, spin, tactical acuity and the kind of mid-rally decision-making Paul believes is unteachable and even untrainable.

Said Paul, “The whole point of it is to use your first reaction and do the stuff that kind of comes to you. It’s not like the stuff that you have been coached.”

Serving for the match at 5-4 in the third, Paul opened with a wide slice serve, a shot he’d frequently deployed in his quest to attack Hurkacz’s weaker side, the forehand. Up 15-love, there came a contemporary rarity: Paul served-and-volleyed, aiming a kick serve wide to the Hurkacz backhand. Hurkacz firmly drove the return down-the-line, but there was Paul, agile with the feet, nimble with the hands, balanced perfectly to direct an untouchable short angled crosscourt forehand half-volley.