“I loved clay growing up and now I’m back to loving it. I’m really enjoying it out here, and I’m excited for French Open this year. I really, really want to do well this year at the French,” said Tommy Paul before the French Open. It’s a bit unexpected coming from Tommy Paul, considering he was raised in North Carolina with minimal clay-court experience. His training mostly revolved around hard courts, with the occasional session on Har-Tru. However, his recent performances promised to break the “clay curse” American tennis players face. But it looks like his campaign might be over before it even properly kicked off.

Tommy Paul kicked off his French Open run by outsmarting Elmer Møller and navigating the lucky loser’s unconventional style to clinch a four-set win. In the next round, he pulled off a gritty comeback from two sets down against Márton Fucsovics, who had served for the match at 5-3 in the fourth. Even after picking up an injury in the decider, Paul found another gear, brushing off a bizarre service winner that took a wicked bounce and then storming through 12 of the last 14 points to seal the win.

But looks like there is a bump in the road after that survival of a match. The injury seems to have been aggravated and is causing him problems in the lower abdomen. The American is scheduled for a scan tomorrow to get clarity on the seriousness of the injury. However, Paul is determined to play his Round 3 match on Friday against Karen Khachanov.

The 28-year-old has not made it past the third round in Paris in his last six appearances. However, this year things looked promising. With a big serve and a topspin-loaded forehand in his arsenal, Paul laid the groundwork for a comeback clay campaign last summer at the Paris Olympics, grabbing a bronze in doubles and making it to the singles quarterfinals. This spring, he took a more intentional route, skipping the early clay events in Monte Carlo and Barcelona to focus on a dedicated training stretch that helped him feel more at home on the dirt. He entered the Madrid Open and made it to the fourth round and then backed that up with a semifinal run in Rome. There, he finally got the better of long-time rival Alex de Minaur and even managed to take a set off world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

Despite these steps, the elusive Grand Slam still remains far from reach. After one of his recent matches at the French Open, the American opened up about the broader prospects for U.S. players at the majors in a revealing post-match interview.

Tommy Paul Opens Up on the State of American Men’s Tennis

It’s been a long time since American men reigned supreme at the majors. Cast your mind back to the 2003 US Open, when Andy Roddick bulldozed past Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets to capture his first and only Grand Slam title. But since that iconic win, no American man has managed to break through again. The dominance of the European “Big 3” era including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic shut the door tight. And now, 24 years on, despite a new wave of rising stars from the U.S., the Grand Slam drought continues.

Enter Tommy Paul, who’s been fanning the flames of American hope with a strong clay-court season. But he’s also not sugarcoating reality. After one of his matches at Roland Garros, Paul was asked in his post-match press conference whether American men had managed to close the gap on their European rivals, who’ve long ruled the ATP circuit. His response was refreshingly honest: “I think we haven’t closed the gap obviously because no none of us have you know won a slam and you know there’s still a lot of really good Europeans ranked ahead of us. So I wouldn’t say the gap is closed, but I think over the past six years or so, we’ve definitely made it smaller,” he admitted.

Now, with a gritty five-set win behind him and a potential injury cloud looming, it remains to be seen whether Paul will be fit enough to face Karen Khachanov in the next round. Can he possibly push beyond the third round barrier at Roland Garros for the first time in his career? What do you think?