World No. 35 Tommy Paul made a light work of Stan Wawrinka in their Queen's meeting and after the match apologized to Tim Henman, who was one of his favorite players growing up. Paul, 25, handed Wawrinka a 6-1 6-4 loss to progress into the quarterfinal at the Queen's Club.
Paul claimed a total of three breaks against Wawrinka, never lost his serve, but still there was something he wasn't happy about – his volleys. “This week is my first couple of main draw wins on grass. If you had asked me two years ago, I would have said grass was my worst surface.
But when I started working with my coach Brad [Stine]he said grass will end up being my best surface and I have tried to mould my game on that,” Paul said, per the ATP websit. “I feel very comfortable out there, hopefully if not this year but next it will be my best surface.
I feel I serve and volley well but every time I went to do so today, I missed my first serve, so I didn’t get many chances. I saw Tim Henman just now and he is one of my favourites because of the style of tennis he played and I told him, ‘Sorry for all those volleys I missed’.
I like coming to the net and rushing people on the grass”.
Paul full of confidence
In the first round, Paul defeated Denis Shapovalov 6-4 2-6 6-4. Last year, Shapovalov reached the semifinal at Wimbledon. Beating Shapovalov on grass was a big confidence booster for Paul, who dominated Wawrinka to make his maiden quarterfinal at the Queen's Club.
“Getting that win Wednesday [against Shapovalov] was a big confidence booster. I came out here today [and] played really well from the start and I relaxed a little bit and everything came a little bit easier,” Paul added.
