“I was like, Oh no!” Paul on the 6-0 curse, and his upcoming clash with Shelton
Tommy Paul has explained why he lost the third set to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and how it’s going to help him start fast against Ben Shelton on Sunday
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Tennis players have all sorts of unusual quirks and traditions, and Tommy Paul is no exception.
For Rafael Nadal, it’s ensuring his bottles are perfectly aligned on the side of the court.
For Novak Djokovic, it’s making the perfect number of bounces ahead of his serve.
For Tommy Paul—and other Americans, apparently—it’s trying not to win a set 6-0.
The American curse of 6-0
After defeating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a mercurial clash that saw the No 14 seed win the opening two sets 6-1, 6-0, drop the third 6-3, then win a tight fourth, Tommy Paul has explained why he believes the match was so up and down.
“Well, this is going to sound funny,” Paul began, sheepishly speaking in his post-match press conference.
“We have, like, a thing between most of the Americans where we think when people win a set 6-0 it’s, like, a curse that you always lose the next set.”
To much laughter around the room, Paul continued:
“To be honest, like, I was thinking about it there in the third. I was looking up at my team, I was, like, “Oh, God, like I’m going to win this set 6-0.” I was serving 5-0. I was like, “Oh, no.” Yeah. But I was thinking about that, and he obviously picked up his level a ton.”
Thankfully, the 26-year-old managed to shake off the curse in the fourth set, fending off a late charge by Davidovich Fokina to make the fourth round of the US Open for the first time.
Shelton up next as Paul looks to make another Grand Slam quarter-final
Earlier this year, compatriots Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton played a brilliant quarter-final at the Australian Open, with Paul winning in four sets.
In two days’ time, the pair will meet again, this time in the round of 16 at their home slam. While in Melbourne Shelton was ranked No 89 and making his first deep run in a slam, the 20-year-old is an established top 30 player now.
“There is very healthy competition amongst all of us,” shared Paul, speaking of the rivalry between himself and the other young American players coming up on the ATP Tour. “We push each other with results or in practice. Like, we’ll practice with each other a ton and we’ll push each other through practice.”
With Paul and Shelton being well acquainted with each other’s games, the elder American has given a hint at how he’s going to approach the clash on Sunday.
“I think our games are, like, pretty different. Like, overall we have very different games. He’s a serve-and-first-ball guy. He does it really well. He volleys pretty well. I’d say that’s probably our similarity that we like to find the net.
“But for me, I’m gonna try and make it a little bit longer than serve and first ball. That’s my whole goal in the match. You know, he brings a lot of energy. I kind of like to keep it mellow. We’re not, like, too similar on the court. Should be a pretty fun match-up.”
The good news for Paul is that Shelton won his most recent set against Aslan Karatsev 6-0, so the 26-year-old should make a fast start in their round of 16 clash.
