In Their Shoes: Tommy Paul reaches first semifinal of season in Parma

On Friday, sixth-seeded Tommy Paul will face friend and compatriot Sebastian Korda in his first semifinal of the season. The 24-year-old from New Jersey defeated fourth-seeded Jan-Lennard Struff, 6-2, 6-4, in the Parma quarterfinal on Thursday.

Paul, whose success has come mainly on the North American hard courts, is proving to be a strong contender on the European red dirt.

“My game style on clay in particular is an aggressive baseliner,” Paul says in the latest “In their Shoes” video from New Balance. “I like to take time when I can, but I’m also willing to stay in long points.”

With his deep run in Parma, Paul is hoping to carry his clay-court momentum over to Roland Garros, which begins main-draw action on Sunday.

“This year at Roland Garros, you can expect hopefully some long matches and good clay-court tennis from me,” he says.

Paul is hoping to at least surpass his 2020 second-round run at the clay-court major, his best showing in Paris so far.

“For me to make strides is moving forward to get to deeper rounds in Roland Garros, I think,” he says. “It’s important to keep playing my game.”

In the meantime, Paul is focusing on his next match against Korda.

“At the tournament, a day in my shoes would just be doing everything I can to prep for matches,” he says. “Get a lot of practicing in and seeing the trainers a lot and making sure my body is right."