Terrific Tommy

In the now-canceled Netflix series, ‘Break Point’, tennis fans were granted unique access to what life on the professional tennis tours is like through behind-the- scenes footage, interviews and more. In those looks into the lives of some of the sport’s best, many of the players were about the struggles they faced, and the aspects of being a touring pro that oftentimes can be overlooked by the public.

In particular, American Tommy Paul was open about the early days of his career. The New Jersey-born Paul turned professional nearly 10 years ago, just after his 18th birthday, making the decision to not play collegiately and instead join the pro tour. It came on the heels of a decorated junior career that saw him reach a career-high ITF ranking of third in the world and reach two Grand Slam junior finals.

While his game may have been ready for the professional tour, Paul admits that mentally and emotionally he was not prepared for what that would be like, as he explained during an interview for ‘Break Point’.:

“When I turned pro, I was kind of in my party phase,” he said. “[I] got a little money in my pocket and I just thought, ‘Let’s have fun.’ [I] kind of got caught up in it.” Specifically, there was a time at the 2017 U.S. Open, Paul recalls, where he would get drubbed in a doubles match, losing 6-0, 6-0. A defeat so lopsided that rumors swirled around about whether that was the reason he did not receive a wild card to the event two years after that.

On that doubles loss, Paul said:

“I had a night out drinking and the next day I was supposed to play doubles,” said Paul. “I was not there, if you know what I mean. Like, I couldn’t even see. I was getting alcohol tested for six months. That’s when I was like, ‘This has got to be rock bottom.’ I knew that I had to turn something around. That’s when I started taking everything more seriously.”

His mother, Jill MacMillan, a former college tennis player herself, said:

“He had some tough times. I remember getting some gut-wrenching phone calls, like, ‘Mom what am I doing?’ It broke my heart. He was watching Frances [Tiafoe] and Taylor [Fritz] just killing it. It made him kind of doubt that he had what it took.”

Paul has learned from those hard times, and has turned his approach around the last several years. His work ethic and dedication has resulted in the best 18 months of his professional career.

In 2023, Paul reached the Australian Open semifinals, the best result at a major in his career, and finished the season ranked 12th in the world, his career high. Paul’s coach Brad Stine, who he has been working with since 2020, has seen those changes up close, and is proud of what Paul has done to put his career on track.

“Tommy is dedicated to wanting to be a great tennis player. He doesn’t want to just be average. Obviously anybody that makes Top 100 and plays at the top echelon of the game is not average anyway,” said Stine. “But within the game itself, we look at your ranking and the rounds that you’ve achieved in tournaments, and those kinds of things and established [what is] an average type of career. Tommy’s not satisfied with that. He wants to be better than that and that’s pushed him. I think that because of the commitment on his part, that allows me to coach and give him information that he absorbs, and that he wants to put into what he’s doing as a player to try and get better. I think he’s done a good job of being coachable.”

Paul is now well-established as one of the top American men on tour and has his sights set on becoming the top-ranked American.

“In every aspect, I have done a decent job of trying to get better,” Paul said at the Miami Open earlier this year. “I think mentally, physically, tennis overall and diet- wise, I have just lived a cleaner lifestyle. I am obviously working hard, working on recovery and watching what I put in my body. Basically, everything I am doing is really tennis specific. I don’t make any decisions that would hurt my job.”

Those words articulate the transformation he has undergone, enjoying the sport he loves but also recognizing what it takes to be and what it means to be a professional. His dedication to the sport is contrasted with how grounded he has been off the court. He is in a relationship with social media influencer Paige Lorenze, and the two live together now in Florida, near where Paul trains, and the two have helped each other immensely.

“We recently started moving into a house in Florida where Tommy will be training,” Lorenze told the New York Post. “He’s definitely leaving the decorating process to me, but we’re very excited to spend more time together and have a place of our own.”

Paul added:

“One of the hardest parts about tennis is how much time you’re away from your family and friends, so when I’m here, I like to keep it simple. … I do like to have fun; I like to hang out with my friends. I’m a normal person, but I’m also a competitor,” said Paul. “Now, I try to spend as much time [chilling out] as I can, whether it’s at the beach, fishing, by the ocean, or at dinner.”

With a revamped approach to his diet and off-court habits, plus more security and stability off the court, Paul is enjoying the best stretch of his professional career. That now brings us into the spring season. He has always enjoyed the clay, winning the 2015 French Open junior event, and his first five titles he won on the Challenger Tour came on clay. Ironically though, Paul has never made it out of the second round at Roland Garros, something he aims to change this year.

The American tennis fan has been starving for greater success on the men’s side. Paul is at the forefront of an American resurgence and the 26-year-old has his sights set on bigger things as we move through 2024 and beyond.