Tommy Paul, photographed by Nick Remsen.
Tommy Paul—the current world number 20 in men’s tennis, with a career high ranking of eight—is bouncing a sun-faded basketball around the bluestone patio of his Melbourne, Australia rental home. He’s staying here with his fiancé, the entrepreneur and content creator Paige Lorenze, while preparing to play in the first major tournament of the tennis calendar: the Australian Open. Off-duty in camo lacrosse shorts and a camo New Balance hat (with Paul, there’s no such thing as too much camo), he’s sinking threes and talking about an enormous marlin that his friend, the Aussie golfer Greg Norman, once caught near the Great Barrier Reef. Paul, one learns, is just obsessed with sport, and he’s got the athletic super-acumen to basically be good at… well, all of them. But tennis is his first love, with fishing a close second, and after battling through injuries for much of the 2025 season, Paul is “feeling great”—and ready to get after it, surface to sea, in ‘26.
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NICK REMSEN: I wanted to ask about your short off season and what you did to chill and relax. Did you go anywhere? Did you and Paige do anything?
TOMMY PAUL: I mean, it was a little bit longer than normal this off season obviously because I stopped [playing] after the US Open. Right after I stopped, I stayed up in Connecticut for a while and kind of did a staycation at Paige’s place. And then as soon as I was able to start really rehabbing and getting strength back in my body, I went back to Florida and started a long recovery process. But for me, it was weird not being on the court for that long—not hardcore sweating or hardcore training, it was challenging for me.
I’m somebody who can’t sit still for a second, and I had basically everyone on my team telling me, “Just chill out, sit down, don’t do anything.” That was honestly the most challenging part. And then, it was a little bit different this off season, because I had more time practicing. Normally, we have five weeks, and this time I had six or seven, so I came down here to Australia with a lot more practice under my belt than I normally do. And that was, I guess, the bright side of the whole situation.
REMSEN: Last time I saw you, you were boat shopping. Did you get that boat?
PAUL: I didn’t.
REMSEN: No?
PAUL: No, because I had no money coming in at the end of the year. [Laughs] And my boat, it works for right now. At some point, I’ll definitely upgrade it.
REMSEN: When you were recovering, did you get any fishing in? I mean, I know fishing is important to you.
PAUL: Oh, absolutely. We did quite a bit of fishing.
REMSEN: What’s your favorite fish to catch, and your favorite fish to eat?
PAUL: I love wahoo. It’s my favorite fish in the ocean. And I would probably say, food-wise, the best tasting fish is always the fish that you catch. The fish up north are very tasty. The cold water fish are amazing, but wahoo is number one for me.
REMSEN: Do you hunt, too?
PAUL: I hunt when I go up to my mom and stepdad’s place. They have land in their backyard in South Jersey where they hunt, right outside Philly. Every time I go up there, I hunt.
REMSEN: Tell me about a TV show or movie that people might be surprised that you’re into.
PAUL: That’s a great question. What have I been watching?
REMSEN: Heated Rivalry?
PAUL: No, but I just heard about that. Ajla [Tomljanović] was telling me about that because I was playing Reilly [Opelka] last night and she was like, “Oh, is this a Heated Rivalry thing?” I was like, “What is that?” [Laughs] I really like Game of Thrones. I think I’ve watched it two or three times now. I watched it the first time and I was like, “I hate it.” I watched it the second time and I was like, “I just don’t understand what’s going on.” And then the third time I watched it I was like, “This is the best show ever.” So then I just kept going with it.
REMSEN: What about the same question, but with music? Did you check your Spotify Wrapped?
PAUL: Oh, that’s a great question too. Let me pull up my phone, ‘cause I had some weird stuff on there.
REMSEN: Mine said my listening age was 18.
PAUL: Mine was 68.
REMSEN: 68?
PAUL: [Laughs] Yeah. I have no idea how that happened. I listen to a lot of reggae when I’m on the boat. Eric Church, I don’t think that’s a surprise to anybody. I love Lil Baby, if I’m listening to rap. And then I like old rock, like Lynyrd Skynyrd. I listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd a lot.
REMSEN: You don’t wear headphones when you walk out on the court usually, right?
PAUL: No.
REMSEN: So you don’t have a pump-up song?
PAUL: No, I don’t really listen to music before I play. I go through phases. Right now I’m in this weird phase where I’m driving around to practice or to the gym and I have no music. I have the windows down, but no music, like a serial killer. But then I’ll go through phases where I can’t do anything without listening to music. I just feel like music’s kind of weak right now.
REMSEN: What would you say are your vices? I think we’ve talked about your obsession with candy.
PAUL: For me, it’s very important to have good people around me all the time. I think being around people that I enjoy is very important, because we have so much time on the road, so much downtime, that you have to be able to enjoy your time with the people around you. I mean, playing little games or whatever. We play a lot of backgammon. I watch a lot of YouTube fishing videos. Like, a lot. I like comedy shows also. Have you heard of Kill Tony?
REMSEN: No.
PAUL: Oh, that’s a good one. It’s filmed at Joe Rogan’s Mothership in Austin, Texas with this guy Tony Hinchcliffe. And he has comedians come on basically off the street and gives them 60 seconds. And basically, if they’re good, Tony will give them a job. And if they suck, then all the comedians that are with Tony will roast them. It’s really funny, but really awkward sometimes.
REMSEN: On a more serious note, I also wanted to also ask you about your philanthropic news that launched today, the Kids Outdoors Foundation. Tell me a little bit about that. You and Paige are doing it together, right?
PAUL: Yeah, it’s something that we’ve been talking about doing for a while. It’s super exciting for both of us. I think the main reason is because we’re able to step back and look at our lives and see that sport put me in a very good position. Tennis made me who I am today. There’s been a lot of people in my life that have given me opportunities that I wouldn’t necessarily have if people didn’t vouch for me and help me out, and there are so many kids that could use help. We’re both passionate about that. And especially in our sports, with tennis and skiing [Lorenze once trained to be a pro skier], they’re expensive to get into. And the communities that I grew up in—like Greenville, North Carolina, Eastern North Carolina—there’s never really been another tennis player from Eastern North Carolina that’s made it. So it’s so important to me to try and bring back tennis culture to Eastern North Carolina. I’ve gotten messages on Instagram, I’ve gotten emails from people I don’t even know telling me, “You have to do something.” I mean, they are changing all these tennis courts into pickle ball courts.
REMSEN: Now, to get into tennis, the Australian Open is here. Is there anything different about your mindset this year, having gone through the injuries that you went through?
PAUL: I’m pretty motivated this year just because last year, I had so many goals that I wasn’t able to accomplish and then I wasn’t even able to finish the year. I’m trying to avenge last year in some sort of way. Last year my goal was quarters or better of every slam. And I started the year great, doing quarters here in Australia, quarters at the French Open. And then at Wimbledon, my body fell apart. It was such a roller coaster of a year. I had my career high, eight in the world, and then by the start of the clay court season, I felt, like, there’s no chance I’m finishing this year. I can’t play any match without pain. Even here in Australia last year, I had a tear in my left shoulder. I told my team, “I think I played three matches the whole year in 2025 not in pain.”
REMSEN: Oh, wow.
PAUL: It was going to happen. I needed a full body reset. I knew it was coming. Obviously, you set those goals for yourself and you want to accomplish those goals, but I was pushing my body to points that it shouldn’t have gotten to, I think. So now I feel like, “Goal number one is to play without pain, and then goal number two is to accomplish the goals that I set for last year.”
REMSEN: And you’re feeling good?
PAUL: I feel great, finally. I lost two weeks ago to [Giovanni Mpetshi] Perricard 7-6 in the third. I’ve never been happier to lose because I was like, “I just played 7-6 in the third and I didn’t feel pain anywhere in my body.”
REMSEN: Well, I hope you go deep here and can reward yourself with some marlin fishing.
PAUL: I might be able to get home for a bit, but then it’s straight to Dallas, and then I think it’s a week off after Dallas, and then Delray, and then a week off, and then Indian Wells.
REMSEN: Wow.
PAUL: Quick turnaround. [Laughs]
