NEW YORK — When Tommy Paul was a kid growing up in Greenville, North Carolina, his family would drive the 500 or so miles up to New York the week before the U.S. Open to watch qualifying matches and catch a glimpse of some pros practicing.
“It was free,” he said.
A couple of times, Paul recalled, those treks involved a visit to an emergency room on the tournament grounds: His sister was bitten by a venomous spider; his mother passed out and hit her head after seeing a player get badly injured.
“Every year,” Paul said, “we always had something terrible happen.”
This trip to Flushing Meadows is going far more smoothly so far for Paul — and other American men. The 26-year-old Paul, the No. 14 seed, earned a debut appearance in the fourth round at the U.S. Open by hitting 15 aces and getting broken just once during a 6-1, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 victory over No. 21 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain on Friday in Arthur Ashe Stadium.