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Tommy Paul makes tennis America dream again
Tommy Paul rewarded himself in Melbourne for his mega run with the semi-final cracker against Novak Djokovic – and thus gives new hope to the badly battered tennis America.
Published: 01/26/2023 at 09:49 am
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Sought-after man: Tommy Paul signs autographs after reaching the semi-finals.
Marco Pescioreporter sports
Frances Tiafoe cheers on Instagram: «American tennis! We’re finally taking over this thing again.” What does world number 17 mean, who was eliminated in the third round in Melbourne? Sure, the excellent results of the US men and women at the Australian Open. But above all: the all-American quarter-final between Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton, which the former wins in four sets.
Paul is the first American tennis player in 14 years to advance to a men’s semifinals at Happy Slam. Andy Roddick last managed to do this in 2009. Paul ends a long dry spell that has meanwhile reached sad proportions. After Roddick was dead in terms of semi-final qualifications for men until 2017 and Sam Querrey in Wimbledon. The former tennis superpower had crashed. The last Grand Slam victories go back to Roddick (US Open) and Andre Agassi (Australian Open) – that was 20 years ago!
Now the US boys are making an impressive comeback in Melbourne. Paul’s run alone shows how much American men’s tennis is on the upswing. Mackenzie McDonald (vs Rafael Nadal) and Jenson Brooksby (vs Casper Ruud) knocked out tournament Nos. 1 and 2 in the space of 24 hours at the Aussie Open. And lucky loser Michael Mmoh beat the next big name in Alexander Zverev. Sebastian Korda failed only in the quarterfinals at Chatschanov.
“We push each other”
After Melbourne, ten US professionals will be ranked in the top 50. For Paul (ATP 35), the semi-final against tournament top favorite Djokovic is the absolute career highlight so far. And the (preliminary) culmination of the remarkable American appearance Down Under, in which the women, for example with quarter-finalist Jessica Pegula, also played their part.
Paul sees the reason for the positive development in his country in the communication and the good atmosphere among each other: “We push and help each other – not only in terms of results.”
Well, at least one result is still important: The man from North Carolina now has the opportunity to even top the US high-flying against Djokovic on Friday night. Then it would probably not only be Tiafoe who would start the cheering song.
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