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Tommy Paul is looking to bounce back during the Davis Cup weekend as he admitted that Novak Djokovic made him "look pretty bad" during their Australian Open semifinal match. Last Friday, Paul suffered a 7-5 6-1 6-2 loss to Djokovic in his first semifinal at the Australian Open.
This weekend - in the absence of Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe - Paul is set to lead the United States in their Davis Cup qualifiers tie against Uzbekistan. “He’s a pretty good player. He made me look pretty bad out there, and then did the same thing to pretty much everyone in the two weeks.
He’s obviously playing amazing tennis. But I’m excited to be here right now. I think it’s going to be a really good weekend of tennis, I’m pumped for the team and ready to get matches going here," Paul told the Davis Cup website.
Paul reveals he was receiving tips from Reilly Opelka
Paul, 25, enjoyed the Grand Slam run of his career at the Australian Open. Now, Paul reveals fellow American Opelka - who hasn't played since the summer after undergoing a surgery - was giving him tips regularly.
“When the [Australian Open] started I was texting Reilly a bunch about the players I was playing and he was giving me the scouting reports. Every morning when I’d wake up for a match he was sending me a long paragraph about what to do against certain players, maybe I’ll hit him up tomorrow!” Paul revealed.
En route to reaching the Australian Open semifinal, Paul defeated Jan-Lennard Struff, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Jenson Brooksby, Roberto Bautista Agut and Ben Shelton. Against Djokovic, Paul found himself down by a double break in the first set.
Stunningly, Paul got both break backs and tied the first set to five games apiece. But Djokovic then responded by winning the next two games to still win the first set. From that moment, Paul's game collapsed and Djokovic clinched a routine straight-set win.