Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul find that net play works wonders on clay in Houston

HOUSTON—Tommy Paul won his first match since a dramatic loss to Arthur Fils in Miami, where the American squandered four consecutive match points in a three-tiebreaker thriller. On Wednesday night at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, the 21^st-ranked 28-year-old defeated rising youngster Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Afterward, I asked Paul if he needed this type of grind, two hours and 24 minutes in length, to fully move past what happened.

“Not really. No,” he said. “But I do think matches like that are nice, like a welcome to clay courts.”

Clay courts stir up many thoughts in tennis fans: sliding gets, baseline wars of attrition, dirty socks. One that usually doesn’t surface is net play. It’s more suited for faster courts, like grass or hard, rather than the slow stuff, since you can move forward quicker.

But the red clay at River Oaks Country Club doesn’t play exactly like it does in Europe, and Paul made it a point to get forward. When he did, he was rewarded: he won 28 of 35 points, or 80 percent.

“Should’ve come to the net more,” he told press after the match. “That was the one thing I was thinking the whole time—how do I get to net.”

“It was weird because it felt easier to get to net on return games than service games.”

The sentiment was also notable because Ben Shelton, Paul’s compatriot who won earlier that evening, said something similar.

“It’s actually an easier surface to serve and volley on for me than any other tournament on the calendar,” said Shelton, who defeated Zhizhen Zhang 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3).

Shelton only came forward five times, but he also won 80 percent of his net points. Hitting 21 aces meant less opportunities to play up, and Zhang hit 12 aces himself.

Like a strong serve, a confident net game can pay dividends on any surface. Shelton is playing doubles this week, and is into the semifinals, which surely gives him some comfort coming forward.

And even when he trailed Zhang 5-2 in the first-set tiebreaker, he didn’t lack confidence.

“One mini break is nothing to be scared of,” said Shelton afterward.

Paul, like Shelton, didn’t panic when he lost serve at 4-3 in the deciding set.

“It might sound silly, but I kind of felt like, even though I got broken there, I felt a little bit under control,” he said. “I felt like I was still going to find a way to win that match.”

Perhaps that’s in part due to the success he experienced at net. Paul has a taste for the tactic, and it proved valuable Wednesday night.

Don’t count on net rushing when the tour moves to Monte Carlo, but for one week at least, there may be more net play than you expect.

“Moving forward in the tournament, definitely going to look to get to the net more,” said Paul. “Especially at night here, it slows down quite a bit—it’s definitely the best way for me to finish points.”