Tommy Paul was knocking on the door of his first BNP Paribas Open final in 2024, when he pushed two-time finalist Daniil Medvedev to three sets in the semifinals. 

A year later the 27-year-old American is hoping that he can engineer another – even bigger – breakthrough. Paul reached a pair of Masters 1000 semifinals in 2024, and has done it three times overall, but has never progressed further. 

His coach Brad Stine says that these types of big goals are what keeps the New Jersey native motivated. 

“There are still a lot of things within the sport that he hasn’t been able to accomplish yet,” Stine told BNPParibasOpen.com. “He won his first ATP 500 title last year, so check that off the list, but he hasn’t won a Masters 1000 – I think he’s capable of doing that – and he hasn’t won a Slam. 

“We have to see if that’s a possibility or not, but that’s what you are striving for all the time – I think those things keep you pretty motivated.”

Paul, a staple inside the ATP’s Top 20 since January of 2023, cracked the Top 10 for the first time in January after reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. Though he has slipped to No. 11 in the interim, the No. 2-ranked American is confident in his form, especially here in Tennis Paradise, where he has compiled an 11-4 record in four appearances, including a 3-2 record against the Top 10. 

Among those wins: Paul’s first Top 5 win over Andrey Rublev in 2021 and his first Top 3 win over Alexander Zverev in 2022.

“Confidence is huge in tennis,” Paul said. “So it's nice coming in knowing that I've played well. I like the conditions here. Hopefully that can carry me through a long week.”

Paul has been knocking on the door at the Majors as well, and he uses those formative moments – both good and bad – as fuel to continue improving. 

It has taken a player ranked inside the Top 3 to take him out of the last three majors, and each time Paul has competed well in defeat. 

“I think losing sucks, always,” Paul said after falling to Zverev in the Australian Open quarterfinals. “But there's good takeaways. I served for the first two sets and won the third set pretty not easy [against Zverev], but I won the third set. 

“I just have to close those sets out. That's what the top players do so well. When they're front-running, they do a great job in closing, and that's what I didn't do well today.”

Despite some bumps in the road, Paul continues to progress. Stine hints that the 27-year-old’s time to shine on the big stage is still coming. 

“There’s a process that occurs naturally,” he says of his charge’s evolution. “You are generally a better player at 20 than you were at 18, you are a better player at 22 than you were at 20. Tommy is a better player now than he was three years ago and I think that it occurs naturally to some degree.” 

Getting better means being more well-rounded for Paul. The emphasis has been on attacking the net for the American for some time. 

“That's when I'm playing my best tennis,” Paul said last year at Indian Wells. “I think it's important to force my game on opponents.”

But Paul is no one-trick pony. He can beat opponents in Myriad ways. 

“Tommy has gotten a lot better from the back of the court than he was three or four years ago,” Stine said. “He’s hitting the ball bigger now. His forehand is bigger. His ball pace and his rotation on the ball have increased off of both sides over the last year, and it was something that we talked about."

“Does that mean he shouldn’t come forward? No. What has made Tommy as successful as he has been is the fact that he has recognized that [attacking the net] is how he makes other guys uncomfortable. For Tommy that’s been serving and volleying, crushing and rushing behind returns and using the chip backhand to put guys in awkward positions that they don’t like to be in. 

“So you put all of those things together and that becomes an all-court player.”

If things go as planned, they will also be the things that help Paul kick down the doors that he has been knocking on for the last two years.