Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz may have exerted their dominance in men’s tennis, but Tommy Paul is proving to be a force to be reckoned with after his sharp rise to prominence.
At the end of 2018, when he was 20 years of age, Paul was ranked outside of the top 200. Seven years down the line and four ATP titles later, he’s climbed into the top 10.
While he is a lively operator around the court, Paul doesn’t tend to psyche himself up with Novak Djokovic-esque roars. Instead, he internalises the message from his coach Brad Stine to ‘let it happen’, which appears to grant him some solace when on the court and helps keep him composed.
As it turns out, the secret to his success is achieving a perfect work-life balance – using the escape of deep sea fishing to help him find his zen away from the tennis court.
Being out on the water has become a necessary pastime for the 27-year-old to keep himself centred. The travel, exhausting playing schedule and pressure of playing in front of thousands of people every week can weigh heavily on a player’s mind.
But fishing provides a release for the American that cannot be taken for granted in maintaining some enjoyment in his life. That said, tennis remains his number one priority.
“I think a lot of people thought I was just fishing all of December, because that’s kind of all I was posting,” Paul said. “But I tell everyone, the tennis always comes first.
“Even when I’m fishing, or doing off-court stuff, I’m thinking about whether it’s going to affect my tennis. And a lot of times, it affects it for the better.
“Before I leave for tournaments, I get a little stressed, or I get kind of locked into practice mode. It’s just tennis, tennis, tennis. My team will be like, ‘All right, Thursday, you’re not playing tennis. Go fishing,’ and it’ll be something that’s really good for me.
“It clears my mind. It’s like you’re all in on that and you don’t really have time to think about anything else. I love doing it so much and it just fully separates me from my day job.”
Whatever Paul is doing appears to be working. As he moves into the peak years of his career, he reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the second time in three years in January, before losing to Alexander Zverev in four sets. That run to the last eight was enough to propel Paul into the top 10 of the ATP rankings – with his No.9 rank in January the highest he’s ever reached.
After going through a tough period earlier in his career and watching his friends enjoy their youth, Paul is now savouring his time as a professional player.
“It’s so much about the right people, and the right people made it different for me. I was able to really enjoy doing it again,” he told Tennis.com.
“A big part of it for me was from 18 to 21, I saw all my friends in college having the best time and I was like, ‘Oh, I should have done that.’ Then I saw them all get desk jobs and it became, ‘OK, what I’m doing isn’t so bad.’
“I just started loving going to the practice court and getting better. I really started taking it super seriously. It’s my job, but at the same time, I’m having fun.”
With his participation in the Mexican Open drawing to a close, Paul can look ahead to playing on home turf at Indian Wells, California, where he will no doubt find an ideal spot to angle his fishing pole.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk