Carlos Alcaraz opened up about the matchup against Tommy Paul, his quarterfinal opponent at the 2025 French Open. The defending Roland Garros champion said that he will not repeat his mistakes from the previous round victory against Ben Shelton.
Paul had been a difficult opponent for Alcaraz as the American led the head-to-head 2-1 after the first three meetings. Both the Americans’ wins came at the Masters 1000 event in Canada in successive years in 2022 and 2023, while Alcaraz won their encounter in Miami in 2023. Their fourth encounter was at the Master 1000 level, at the 2023 Cincinnati Open, where the Spaniard won 7-6 (6), 6-7 (0), 6-3, leveling the head-to-head at 2-2.
The next match between the duo was their first Grand Slam meeting at the quarterfinal of the Wimbledon Championships last year. In what was a tense four-set battle, Alcaraz triumphed over the American. The last meeting for the duo was another quarterfinal clash at last year’s Paris Olympics, which the Spaniard won in straight sets.
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Ahead of their Roland Garros quarterfinal, Alcaraz was candid about his rivalry against Paul, admitting that the American player had caused him problems in previous encounters at big events. He commended Paul's improvement as a player and stated that the American was full of confidence right now.
"I remember every match I played against him was really tough. It was really difficult. In Grand Slams. In Masters 1000s. All the tournaments I’ve played him in, it wasn’t easy at all. I lost a few matches against him as well. He’s in the quarterfinal of another grand slam. His level is really high right now. He has a lot of confidence. It’s gonna be an interesting match." said Alcaraz during his press conference.
Alcaraz went on to say that he would be wary of the mistakes he made in his fourth-round clash against Ben Shelton and would be mindful of not repeating them against Paul in the next match. He stated that he expected a high-quality match that would have great rallies and some exciting points.
"I’ll try to just keep going. Trying to be better. I’ll try to learn from the mistakes I made today. Not gonna make the same against Tommy. But I think for the people it’s gonna be a really interesting match to watch. Every time we play each other, we raise our level to the top as well. We make really good rallies, good points. I think it’s gonna be great to watch as well. It’s gonna be a good quarterfinal.” added Alcaraz.
The match between Alcaraz and Paul is set to take place on Day 10 at the French Open on June 3 (Tuesday).
Carlos Alcaraz and Tommy Paul have had difficult matches at the French Open
Both Carlos Alcaraz and Tommy Paul have faced tricky tests before their quarterfinal matchup at the 2025 French Open. Alcaraz started his campaign with a straight-set victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppeiri. Since then, the Spaniard has dropped a set in every one of his matches. He dropped the second set against Fabian Marozsan in the second round but recovered to win the match in four sets.
In his third-round match against Damir Dzhumur, it looked plain sailing for the Spaniard as he took the first two sets. But a drop in level saw the second seed lose the third set and concede an early break in the fourth set. However, once Alcaraz recovered, closing the match out in the fourth set itself.
Against Ben Shelton in the fourth round, Alcaraz had to fight off multiple set points to win the first set. Just like his previous match, he dropped the third set after winning the first two. However, he raised his level to win in four sets to advance to the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Tommy Paul lost the opening set against Elmer Moller in the first round but recovered to win in four sets. In the second round, the American player came back after losing the first two sets to win a five-set thriller against Marton Fucsovics. The American had to play out another five-set tussle against Karen Khachanov in the third round. His most impressive performance came in the fourth round, where he won against Alexei Popyrin in straight sets.
