Tennis star Tommy Paul turns to different activity | Sports News

Rising tennis star Tommy Paul has made a significant leap from being ranked outside the top 200 at age 20 to breaking into the top 10 seven years later.

Unlike Novak Djokovic, who is known for his fiery on-court demeanor, Paul prefers a more internal approach, taking to heart his coach Brad Stine’s advice to ‘let it happen’.

This mindset helps him maintain composure during matches. The secret to his success, however, lies in achieving a perfect work-life balance.

He finds solace in deep-sea fishing, an activity that provides a much-needed escape from the grueling travel and playing schedule of professional tennis.

Despite the enjoyment he derives from this pastime, Paul insists that tennis remains his primary focus.

“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”.

He also shared how his team encourages breaks to maintain balance: “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.”

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The athlete finds solace in fishing, saying, “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.”

His approach seems to be paying off as he recently made it to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and broke into the ATP top 10 rankings. Reflecting on his journey and the importance of support, he said: “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,” in an interview with 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 stint at the Mexican Open wrapping up, Paul is gearing up to compete on familiar ground at Indian Wells, California, where he’s sure to find the perfect spot to cast a line.