At Indian Wells, Paul has chance to make us forget Australian collapse

INDIAN WELLS — The chance is there for Tommy Paul, the chance to make us forget. Forget what happened  Down Under. The chance to make himself a winner of one of the world’s biggest tennis tournaments outside the Slams. The chance to alter the memories of his failure in the Australian Open several weeks ago when he let a two-to-one set lead slip away and lost in five sets, the final one 6-0.

That caught the attention of everyone in the game and many outside the game. Here was a 25-year-old American, one of the new generation, not only unable to close the deal but looking bad in the process.

He became a headline. But he didn’t become depressed, on the contrary. He got on a jet for California, got a practice court, and told us, “Sometimes the painful endings are exactly what you need.”

Paul has come along with his age-group pals, Taylor Fritz, Francis Tiafoe and Reilly Opelka. Tiafoe made it to the semis of the U.S Open, Fritz won Indian Wells and Opela has his own victories. What Paul has, in some minds, is a blown opportunity.

Yes, unfair, but he seems unperturbed.

Paul grew up in North Carolina but now lives on his mother’s farm in Southern New Jersey, where, no he doesn’t plant corn or drive tractors but the few weeks he’s home does chores like feeding the chickens

There was a shirtless photo of him standing next to a tractor in a tennis publication, but that was to get the game noticed, which certainly did. Paul has a footballer’s physique.

Whether that will be an advantage or disadvantage in the match against Medvedev, a veteran with a strong forehand and an aggressive style we will learn quickly enough.

This is the fourth straight year there’s been a U.S. men’s player in the BNP semis. Paul was asked what it feels like to have broken through.  

”Your success now,” wondered a journalist, “does it feel a little bit sweeter, the stuff you’ve gone through, the stuff we learned (about his lifestyle) on Netflix, the late-night calls to your mom, maybe partying a little too much (when)younger, being a bit of a late bloomer? The fact you’ve locked it down and become the player you are now, does it make this success even sweeter?”

Paul was a bit reluctant.

“Maybe,” he said “I don’t know what it would feel like if I broke into the scene right away. I’m not sure. I mean it feels good. Obviously, I have another match on Saturday that I want to win. I’m not satisfied yet. So obviously I want to end the week with a win. You know, I want to win tournaments. That’s always the goal.”