Can Tommy Paul break the curse for U.S. men at Roland Garros?

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ROME, Italy—Paris wasn’t a priority when a teenaged Tommy Paul made his first trip to Europe.

“It was weird,” the now-28-year-old American told me at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, “because I came over here with the goal of doing well in Futures. We were trying to play pro tournaments and do well in those, but I ended up doing well at everything it kind of changed the course of my life.”

The New Jersey-born, North Carolina-raised Paul grew up with limited exposure to clay, training on the oft-maligned Har Tru only as a supplement to the standard hard-court diet. Where that often manifests in a clay-court “allergy” for most Americans, Paul was intrigued by the traditional terre battue and took to it almost immediately.

“I just wanted to know what it was all about,” he recalled. “My first reaction was that it was easier, a lot better gripping, a lot better bounces. When you train on green clay and then you come here, everything feels easier, even now. It’s just so slippery on the green clay. This is just a much purer version of clay, I think.”

His first voyage abroad yielded his first two Futures titles and culminated with a run to the boy’s singles title at 2015 Roland Garros. The all-American final against Taylor Fritz appeared to portend a cultural shift, one that exploded the idea that U.S. men in particular struggle on clay. But Andre Agassi remains the last American man to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires in 1999, an even longer dry spell than the frequently-city 22 years since Andy Roddick's 2003 US Open win. A career-high No. 9, Paul is seeded No. 12 at the only major tournament where he is yet to reach the second week.

“I would say the biggest difference coming into this clay-court season was, in the past I kind of dreaded it a little bit. I wasn’t ever too excited to play,” Paul admitted to a crowded mixed zone. The return of Jannik Sinner had spiked interest in the men’s tournament across the board, and in between earnest assessments of his clay-court improvements, he happily fielded questions on topics ranging from the NBA Finals to, most improbably, Thomas Jefferson.

“This year, I came into it very excited. I know I can have fun on it. I had fun on it last year. That’s also confidence. When you have confidence, you’re going to beat a lot of really good players. It’s a little more fun, for sure.”

It’s just clay, you know? I hate to be that guy complaining about bad bounces...That’s something that’s changed for me, is the mindset of just accepting it when it doesn’t bounce how it’s ‘supposed’ to. I think that’s why the guys who do well on clay do well on clay. They move back, they have time to adjust and they don’t bitch and moan about it. Tommy Paul

Armed with a strong serve and heavy topspin forehand, Paul first set the table for a redemptive clay-court swing last summer at the Olympic Games in Paris, winning a bronze medal in men’s doubles and reaching the quarterfinals in singles. He was deliberate in his approach to clay this spring, sitting out warm-up tournaments in Monte Carlo and Barcelona to carve out a training bloc that maximized his comfort on the surface.

“I put myself through a little boot camp,” he said with a smile. “The clay season starts so fast, you know? I don’t think I’m somebody that can adjust to the clay super quickly. If I have time, I can build into a really good base and play some great clay-court tennis, but I don’t think I’m like a Sebastian Baez where it just clicks right away on the clay. I think that’s important for me, to get a little bit of time practicing before I play tournaments.”

He followed up a fourth-round finish at the Mutua Madrid Open with a return to the semifinals in Rome, where he scored a first win over nemesis Alex de Minaur and took a set from the top-ranked Sinner in his first tournament since serving a three-month doping suspension. The single-minded focus nearly cost him his Ford F-150, his truck getting briefly repossessed due to an accidental lapse in payments.

Paul continued to make light of the incident in Paris, where he opened by outfoxing Elmer Moller and the lucky loser’s unorthodox game to advance in four sets. In the second round, he rallied from two sets down to score a first win over Marton Fucsovics, who served for the match at 5-3 in the fourth. Despite suffering an injury in the fifth set, he won 12 of the final 14 points after laughing off a bad bounce service winner from the Hungarian.

“It’s just clay, you know? I hate to be that guy complaining about bad bounces. It’s clay. We’re going to have bad bounces. That’s something that’s changed for me, is the mindset of just accepting it when it doesn’t bounce how it’s ‘supposed’ to. I think that’s why the guys who do well on clay do well on clay. They move back, they have time to adjust and they don’t bitch and moan about it. They don’t complain. They just adjust.”

He will likely need to keep adjusting in a section with strong clay-courters like Karen Khachanov and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz. But Paul, who has a penchant for watching classic matches, has studied the masters. The monitors in Rome played some of their greatest hits between live action, and Paul had instant recall of Rafael Nadal’s 2005 victory over Guillermo Coria.

“I guess that would be classic now, right?” he said of Nadal’s now-20-year-old comeback. “I think Rafa was down in the fifth set, 3-0, and then it was absolute war.”

But war is hell. Paul believes he’s found something happier buried in the dirt.

“When I was young, I was really excited to play on the clay, the European clay,” Paul told me, taking one last swipe at Har Tru. “I loved clay growing up and now I’m back to loving it. I’m really enjoying it out here, and I’m excited for French Open this year. I really, really want to do well this year at the French.”

Paris wasn’t a priority for Paul ten years ago. Now it could be where he makes a classic of his own.