Greenville, NC native Tommy Paul gives a jolt to American tennis at the Australian Open

Jan. 26—There is a familiar face once again in the Australian Open semifinals: Nine-time champion Novak Djokovic has made the first Grand Slam event of the tennis calendar his personal playground throughout his career.

But Tommy Paul, the 25-year-old unseeded American who will play opposite him in the semifinal, has been closely followed by many in North Carolina — and beyond — thanks to his meteoric rise in the sport.

Here’s a closer look at Paul, who The New York Times says, is “having a moment.”

Who is Tommy Paul?

Paul was born in New Jersey in 1997, but grew up in Greenville, NC, where he played tennis on clay courts beginning at age 7. By the time he was a teenager, Paul moved to Florida to train with the USTA.

Paul’s mother, Jill MacMillan, is a former tennis player at East Carolina University. She wasn’t in Australia to watch Paul win his early-round matches, but made sure she was there for his quarterfinal match against fellow unseeded American Ben Shelton.

Then, Paul made sure she had something to stick around for by defeated Shelton in four sets to reach the semifinal round of a Grand Slam event for the first time in men’s open singles.

What’s Paul’s Grand Slam history?

This isn’t Paul’s first trip to a Grand Slam semifinal, though.

— In 2015, Paul won the French Open boys’ singles crown in three sets over another fellow American, Taylor Fritz. He also reached the boys’ singles final at the U.S. Open later that year, falling to Fritz in the final.

— In that same U.S. Open, Paul also made his professional Grand Slam debut, falling in the first round to Andreas Seppi. He was 18.

— Over the next five years, Paul slowly climbed the tennis rankings, earning wins on the Challenger Tour and on the ITF Circuit. In 2019, Paul debuted in the ATP Top 100 when he won two Challenger events.

— In 2020, Paul reached the third round of the Australian Open, the first time he’d reached the third round in a major.

— In 2021 he represented the United States in the rescheduled 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. By the end of the 2021 season, Paul was as high as 43rd in the world.

When was Paul’s breakthrough?

Paul’s breakthrough came in 2022.

— After a second-round exit at the Australian Open, and a first-round ouster at the French Open — despite being seeded No. 30 — he fought his way into the fourth round at Wimbledon, the furthest he’d advanced in a major until this week. At the U.S. Open last year, Paul lost in the third round, in his third consecutive five-set match, to eventual finalist Casper Ruud.

— Perhaps the biggest win of his career to date came at the 2022 Paris Masters, where he upset world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the second round to record the fourth victory over a top-10 player of the year.

When does Paul play next at the Australian Open?

After that win, Paul took some time to decompress from the grind of the ATP season. But, by the end of December, he was champing at the bit to return to competition.

On Dec. 28, Paul posted on Twitter that the pro tennis season “shouldn’t be so long, but damn I’m ready to play again.”

With his play at the Australian Open to this point, it appears he was, indeed, “ready to play.”

Paul now will face Djokovic, who has played in the quarterfinals or better 12 times in 17 previous tournament appearances, on Friday.

This is the first time Djokovic and Paul have met on the court. Djokovic has dropped one set so far at this year’s event. He is looking to win the Australian Open for the fourth time in five years (he did not play in 2022 due to his vaccination status).

How to watch the Australian Open semifinal

— The second semifinal match is scheduled to begin at approximately 3:30 a.m. Eastern on Friday, following the first semifinal between Karen Khachanov and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

— The match will be shown live in the U.S. on ESPN or ESPN2, and is available to stream on ESPN+.

(c)2023 The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.