Physically and philanthropically, Tommy Paul hits the ground running at 2026 Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia—Tommy Paul arrived to Australia ranked inside the Top 20 despite taking most of the last six months off, a testament to what he can do at full health and what he plans to bring to the 2026 season.

“I had a lot of opportunities to play points in December coming into the first couple of tournaments of the year,” Paul told me of his extended pre-season after advancing into the second round of the Australian Open. “I knew my level a little bit better.”

Paul shut his season down after the 2025 US Open, and admitted after a straight-sets win  over fellow American Alexander Kovacevic that his break could have been even longer.

“I really knew around French Open, beginning of French Open I knew at some point in the year I was going to have to be shutting it down,” said Paul, who made the quarterfinals in Paris despite an abdominal injury. “I kind of just extended maybe a little too long. Probably shouldn't have gone and played Wimbledon. Probably shouldn't have played US Open.”

It was at Wimbledon where the American, now 28, suffered the foot injury that ultimately forced him off court after at the end of August. Though he gave up the chance to compete for a berth at the Nitto ATP Finals, the break afforded Paul the chance to prepare for 2026 with renewed gusto. By December, he was back in action for the Garden Cup at Madison Square Garden; a month later he made his first tour semifinal since May (Adelaide International) to set him in good stead for his Melbourne campaign.

“I mean, it was a lot of long days,” Paul said of his pre-season. “Spent a lot of time on the body.

“First thing's first is getting all the mobility back in your joints and your legs, your hips. Then from there, it's kind of building a bit of cardio, which is hard to do, because, I mean, you don't want to do impact when you are hurting, so we're doing no-impact cardio, which means probably you have to do more of it.”

Playing in conditions that felled the likes of Félix Auger-Aliassime, Paul was ruthlessly efficient against Kovacevic to win in just over 90 minutes, striking 20 aces and dropping just four points behind his first serve.

I'm getting older...But, I mean, I think for me it helps. Experience, it means a lot in this sport. I feel like you gain a lot from experience coming down here. Playing in the first round when you are in your younger years, you feel so nervous. You don't know really what you're getting yourself into. I mean, I know what I'm getting myself into every time I play. Tommy Paul

“I don't know if that was temperature or the courts are just faster, but it took a little while to get in the rhythm from the ground,” said Paul, who struck twice as many winners as errors (38 to 16), “but luckily, I came out serving really well today.”

The break also gave Paul time to launch the Kids Outdoors Foundation with fiancée Paige Lorenze. Announcing the initiative over the weekend, Paul hopes to use his on-court abilities to give back to the next generation.

“There's quite a few tournaments in South Florida, like Delray or Miami, and getting a group of kids that have never been to tournaments and just getting kids excited about tennis, getting kids excited about being outside,” Paul previewed.

“Yeah, it's an exciting thing. It's something we talked about doing for a while now. I think it's something that means a lot to both of us. Both of us had so many opportunities given to us through sports growing up, and I think anything that we can do to help, we're going to try and do it.”

One of 21 Americans in the men’s draw, Paul feels the field is as close as it’s ever been to those 80s-90s days of U.S. dominance. All they need is a champion.

“I'm getting older,” smiled Paul. “But, I mean, I think for me it helps. Experience, it means a lot in this sport. I feel like you gain a lot from experience coming down here. Playing in the first round when you are in your younger years, you feel so nervous. You don't know really what you're getting yourself into.

“I mean, I know what I'm getting myself into every time I play.”

Sharing a section of the draw with top seed Carlos Alcaraz, Paul may yet put his physicality to the ultimate test this week Down Under.