Tommy Paul’s coach reveals the tactic designed to beat Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner

Richie Mills 22 Jul 2026 9:00 PM

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, with Tommy Paul (inset)

Tommy Paul’s coach has revealed some of the tactics his charge employed in a bid to topple Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the biggest tournaments.

Brad Stine began working with the American in 2020, and since then, he has taken him from outside the top 50 to a player hovering around the top 10.

The 29-year-old has made one Grand Slam semi-final and three quarter-finals, along with claiming a bronze medal in doubles with Taylor Fritz at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Paul’s career-high is eight, although injuries and slightly inconsistent form have seen him drop to 21st in the world. Stine says that this current version of the player is Tommy Paul 7.0 and the last iteration of him was heavily geared to beating the game’s two dominant players.

In eight meetings with Alcaraz, the 6ft 1in player has won twice, with the Spaniard currently on a five-match winning streak.

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In their first five encounters, Paul repeatedly ran the seven-time major winner close, while with Sinner, he trails their head to head 4-1. And in a bid to try and upset the two tennis greats, Stine revealed what steps he took to try and turn the tide in Paul’s favour.

He said on Tennis Channel, “That was a big part of our Tommy 6.0. We pushed Tommy to become a little bit more a shot maker, more aggressive with his basic groundstrokes and hitting style so he is trying to take a little bit more time away from that.

“That was a result of him having lost to those two guys in some big matches and opportunities. Quarter-finals at Wimbledon (2024) against Carlos, round of 16 (2024 US Open) against Jannik. We felt like Tommy’s attacking style lends itself to having an opportunity to beat those guys but that he needed to be a little bit bigger and more aggressive in the key moments of the matches.”

Stine, who coached Jim Courier to four Grand Slams and the No 1 ranking in the early 1990s, tried to dispel a common misconception with Paul. While the New Jersey-born player can be one of the most entertaining players on the ATP Tour, the 67-year-old suggested that is not his default mode.

“As much as Tommy plays aggressive tennis, but unless you’re around him, you don’t realise is that Tommy is a bit of a risk-averse person as a tennis player; he’s not as a human being,” added Stine.

“On the tennis court he hates missing balls, it’s been drilled into his head since he was young that you don’t make unforced errors. It took a bit of stress and pressure to get him to try and be willing to play a little bit bigger and with that comes making a few more errors but the trade-off is what he needed to try and beat those guys.”

Paul will hope the 7.0 version of himself is the most successful version yet.