Before we get into the negative for Tommy Paul, there was some positive to come out of his showing at the 2025 French Open. Once the ATP rankings come out after the tournament, he will rise to No. 8, which is a career high. The happiness ends there, though.
Carlos Alcaraz proved during their quarterfinal match on Tuesday that there is a vast difference between No. 2 and No. 8. Paul appeared to be hampered by an injury, but if he was, it was slight. Even mentioning that takes away from Alcaraz's brilliance.
To be clear, the Spaniard took the match. Paul was completely overwhelmed.
Carlos Alcaraz defeats Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals of the 2025 French Open
The first two sets, which Alcaraz won 6-0 6-1, took only 53 minutes to play. The American might feel embarrassed by how much of a blowout the match was, but he shouldn't. Paul is a fine player, but he lacks the power to compete consistently with players like Alcaraz and ATP No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
This is especially true when one of them is playing at their best, which Alcaraz was in the quarterfinals. Everything he did worked, and he kept Paul off-balance with both his touch and his bombastic forehands. On top of that, the Spaniard was routinely hitting his serves at over 130 mph.
Paul moves around the court well, but when someone is placing the ball anywhere they want, usually deep on the court and in the corners, there is little anyone can do. Even Sinner would have likely suffered a bad loss to Alcaraz.
Through two sets, Paul had five winners but 20 unforced errors. Alcaraz had 23 winners and 14 unforced errors. He appeared to know Paul was not feeling 100 percent and was ruthless and aggressive in his approach, as he should have been.
There was little doubt who was going to win the match, beginning with the first game. Alcaraz broke at love. While Paul wasn't winning many games in the first or second sets, he was unable to keep most of the games close either.
The American was forced to try to add mph to his serve and his forehand, but that only caused him to overhit many times or completely miss on a couple of returns.
Paul should get accolades for making the third set as tight as it was. He led 4-3 until Alcaraz won the last three games. But the Spaniard took the match 6-0 6-1 6-4.
Alcaraz will next face Lorenzo Musetti in the semifinals on Thursday. Musetti moves as well as Paul, but hits with more power. Let's see if he can make the match against Alcaraz closer than the American could.