Tommy Paul is a tennis purist and a lover of the grass courts.
Sadly, that kind of affection for this specific natural surface feels few and far between.
Instead, the tour seems to just be adding more and more hard-court events, creating a monotonous, homogenised calendar that breeds the same champions week on week.
Well, Tommy Paul has taken a stand.
He has now called for the tennis calendar to change, opening itself up to the possibility of extending one of the most criminally short swings of the year at last.
Tommy Paul wants a grass-court Masters 1000 event
Speaking in the mixed zone at Queen’s to Tennis365, when asked if he’d like to see the grass-court season extended and the possible introduction of a Masters 1000 event on this surface, Paul was all for it.
He claimed: “Yeah, absolutely. We talk about that all the time. I think so, for sure. That would be great.”
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Then, touching on why he feels so successful on the surface, the American added: “Yeah, I won’t go in too much depth, but I think it limits my weaknesses a little bit, which is obviously very good for me.
“I feel like the balls on grass kind of stay in the strike zone a little bit; I feel like I can swing out at a lot more.
“I actually feel sometimes, like if you’re leaning the right way, if you catch a rhythm on return, I actually like returning on grass quite a bit. And you do get a little help on your serve, obviously.
“But I think the grass helps me, yeah.”
Wimbledon is one of Tommy Paul’s best-performing Grand Slams
Paul’s statement is backed up by his past performances at Wimbledon, which historically has been one of his best-performing majors.
In fact, his 71% win rate is only narrowly bettered at the Australian Open (72%), with an opportunity to change that in the coming months.
Should the ATP Tour introduce a new grass-court Masters event? 💭
If so, where should the tournament be held?
Last year marked an underwhelming performance at the All England Club for the 28-year-old, as he fell victim to an early exit along with many of the other top seeds.
However, just the year before saw him reach the quarter-finals, only beaten by the eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz despite taking the first set off him.
Well, with so many star names set to be absent from this year’s event, and with Alcaraz having already withdrawn from Wimbledon, this represents a golden opportunity for Paul to enjoy a career-best run at any major and reaffirm his love for the surface.
