University of Georgia Athletics
Paulsell Rose To No. 1 Challenge
May 17, 2024 | Men's Tennis, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Thomas Paulsell looks back at the player he was in early January, before he'd ever played a match as Georgia men's tennis' No. 1 singles player, and he can see the tremendous progress he's made in the months since.
"Yeah, definitely," he said this week, before heading out to Stillwater, Okla., for the NCAA men's singles tournament, which begins Monday. "From January, a completely different player. And it's nice to see."
A year ago, as a sophomore on a very experienced squad, Paulsell played in one singles match during the dual-match season, earning a win at No. 6, 6-3, 6-3, against Vanderbilt's Macsen Sisam. That Georgia team went undefeated in SEC play during the regular season, reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, and was led by four seniors or fifth-year players, plus sophomore Miguel Perez Peña and star redshirt freshman Ethan Quinn, who went on to win the NCAA singles championship.
Georgia then lost all of those seniors, Quinn turned pro, star signee Alex Michelsen opted to turn pro after reaching the finals of an ATP Tour event during the summer, and another star signee, Ignacio Buse of Peru, had visa issues before deciding to turn pro. The cupboard went from overflowing to pretty bare, at least as far as experienced Bulldogs were concerned.
"I knew once I realized that all three of them weren't going to be here, I was going to have a much bigger role on the team than I initially thought. ... I knew I had to ramp up my game a little bit more," said Paulsell, a 6-foot-3 junior from Seattle. "There was more focus in practice; I always have a lot of focus, but there was even more. I tried to make it match-like."
After a solid fall season during which he won the red draw during the Southern Intercollegiate Championships, beating Peña in the final, Paulsell went home for the holiday break having no idea that he would be named the Bulldogs' No. 1 player. That's because Georgia's coaches — head coach Manuel Diaz, associate head coach Jamie Hunt and assistant Bryce Warren — hadn't decided anything yet.
"A lot can change from when we have to stop working with them in November, to Jan. 3, when we started back again. And he came back in shape and playing well, and he was ready for the opportunity," said Hunt, who will soon take over for the retiring Diaz as head coach, with Warren becoming the associate head coach.
Georgia opened its season on Jan. 22, against Eastern Kentucky. It was at the end of the Bulldogs' final practice before the match that Paulsell, who was essentially the team's No. 7 singles player the year before, learned that he would start the season at No. 1.
"We finished our last practice and were all just stretching, and that's when (the coaches) went through the lineup," he said. "And Jamie was like, 'Thomas is going to be playing one.' And I was like, 'What?' I was a little surprised."
"It's been very rewarding to see somebody that really wasn't playing for us at all previously, and then going all the way up to No. 1," Hunt said. "That's a huge, monumental ask. He really rose to the challenge this year, and it wasn't easy. He seemed to embrace it and really win some huge matches for us."
When it came time to take the court, playing at the same position in the lineup as Bulldog greats and legends like Diaz, Mikael Pernfors, Al Parker, Matias Boeker and John Isner, Paulsell was understandably nervous. There are always some nerves before playing any match, he said, but there was something extra early in the season.
Paulsell won his first two matches before falling to then-No. 18 Texas A&M's No. 1, Rafael Perot in three sets. A pivot point in the season came in Paulsell's next match, against Georgia Tech's Andres Martin, who has been a good college player throughout his career and is No. 12 in the most recent rankings. Paulsell beat Martin in two tight sets, 7-5, 6-4, earning himself a quality win and a lot of confidence.
"I've known Andres for a very long time, and everyone in Georgia that knows tennis knows that how good Andres Martin is and how good of a player he is," Paulsell said. "And beating him brought my confidence up a lot, knowing that I could play with anybody in the country. Because he's one of the best players in the country."
Heading into the NCAA singles, Paulsell is ranked No. 36 in the country. He has played many of the best players in college tennis, including eight of the players in the current top 20. Because of the heavy hitters he's faced, Paulsell has played better than his record. He's 15-17 overall in singles, 8-11 in dual matches and he went 5-5 in completed SEC matches. He and USC transfer Ryan Colby also made a very good No. 2 doubles team, going 8-3.
"Playing No. 1 is one of the tougher things in college," Warren said. "Playing No. 6, you can probably win without your best stuff. At No. 1, that's hard to do. You've got to be able to have your best stuff, or a pretty good version of it, on a daily basis."
When talking about Paulsell's improvement this season, Hunt, Warren and Paulsell all pointed to three critical areas: his serve, his forehand and his defense.
"When you look at what he did so well this year, he defended incredibly well," Hunt said. "It was like all of a sudden, he was making everyone hit one more ball and one more ball."
"I had to bring up my first-serve percentage a lot because if I missed my first serve, they were always going to be attacking second serves," Paulsell said of No. 1 opponents. "Also, as I played more, I got used to the pace versus all these players, and that helped my game out and helped me improve a lot."
"The consistency of how aggressive he's been playing has been really cool to see. He's been hitting the ball so much bigger this year, but not like once or twice. He can go eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 balls in a row, and that's huge," Warren said of trading groundstrokes with his opponents. "His serve — when his serve is on, he's really tough to break. And you need that to play at the top of the lineup.
"One thing that I think is underrated, that he doesn't get enough credit for, is his defense. His defense has gotten so much better. ... Watching him scrap out points and find ways to win points has been so impressive.
Georgia's opposing coaches have been impressed too, Warren said.
"Jamie and I have heard from a lot of coaches this year some version of: 'That guy played seven for you last year?' And now he's beating legit No. 1s. It's been really cool." he said.
It has been cool, and hopefully inspiring for every Bulldog in the lineup. Where you played this season, or if you didn't play much at all, doesn't have to be where you wind up next year. If you put in the work, and if you believe in yourself every time you take the court, you can play anywhere. Just ask Paulsell, who earned his shot at No. 1 and then kept proving he belonged time and time again.
Now, he's out to try to make as deep a run in the NCAAs as he can.
"That was one of my goals before coming to college: make the NCAAs. Updated, it's to become an All-American," he said. "And now I have a chance of doing that. It's very, very exciting. My parents are coming to Stillwater to watch, and they don't come to many matches, so it's going to be fun. I'm very, very excited."
Staff Writer
Thomas Paulsell looks back at the player he was in early January, before he'd ever played a match as Georgia men's tennis' No. 1 singles player, and he can see the tremendous progress he's made in the months since.
"Yeah, definitely," he said this week, before heading out to Stillwater, Okla., for the NCAA men's singles tournament, which begins Monday. "From January, a completely different player. And it's nice to see."
A year ago, as a sophomore on a very experienced squad, Paulsell played in one singles match during the dual-match season, earning a win at No. 6, 6-3, 6-3, against Vanderbilt's Macsen Sisam. That Georgia team went undefeated in SEC play during the regular season, reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, and was led by four seniors or fifth-year players, plus sophomore Miguel Perez Peña and star redshirt freshman Ethan Quinn, who went on to win the NCAA singles championship.
Georgia then lost all of those seniors, Quinn turned pro, star signee Alex Michelsen opted to turn pro after reaching the finals of an ATP Tour event during the summer, and another star signee, Ignacio Buse of Peru, had visa issues before deciding to turn pro. The cupboard went from overflowing to pretty bare, at least as far as experienced Bulldogs were concerned.
"I knew once I realized that all three of them weren't going to be here, I was going to have a much bigger role on the team than I initially thought. ... I knew I had to ramp up my game a little bit more," said Paulsell, a 6-foot-3 junior from Seattle. "There was more focus in practice; I always have a lot of focus, but there was even more. I tried to make it match-like."
After a solid fall season during which he won the red draw during the Southern Intercollegiate Championships, beating Peña in the final, Paulsell went home for the holiday break having no idea that he would be named the Bulldogs' No. 1 player. That's because Georgia's coaches — head coach Manuel Diaz, associate head coach Jamie Hunt and assistant Bryce Warren — hadn't decided anything yet.
"A lot can change from when we have to stop working with them in November, to Jan. 3, when we started back again. And he came back in shape and playing well, and he was ready for the opportunity," said Hunt, who will soon take over for the retiring Diaz as head coach, with Warren becoming the associate head coach.
Georgia opened its season on Jan. 22, against Eastern Kentucky. It was at the end of the Bulldogs' final practice before the match that Paulsell, who was essentially the team's No. 7 singles player the year before, learned that he would start the season at No. 1.
"We finished our last practice and were all just stretching, and that's when (the coaches) went through the lineup," he said. "And Jamie was like, 'Thomas is going to be playing one.' And I was like, 'What?' I was a little surprised."
"It's been very rewarding to see somebody that really wasn't playing for us at all previously, and then going all the way up to No. 1," Hunt said. "That's a huge, monumental ask. He really rose to the challenge this year, and it wasn't easy. He seemed to embrace it and really win some huge matches for us."
When it came time to take the court, playing at the same position in the lineup as Bulldog greats and legends like Diaz, Mikael Pernfors, Al Parker, Matias Boeker and John Isner, Paulsell was understandably nervous. There are always some nerves before playing any match, he said, but there was something extra early in the season.
Paulsell won his first two matches before falling to then-No. 18 Texas A&M's No. 1, Rafael Perot in three sets. A pivot point in the season came in Paulsell's next match, against Georgia Tech's Andres Martin, who has been a good college player throughout his career and is No. 12 in the most recent rankings. Paulsell beat Martin in two tight sets, 7-5, 6-4, earning himself a quality win and a lot of confidence.
"I've known Andres for a very long time, and everyone in Georgia that knows tennis knows that how good Andres Martin is and how good of a player he is," Paulsell said. "And beating him brought my confidence up a lot, knowing that I could play with anybody in the country. Because he's one of the best players in the country."
Heading into the NCAA singles, Paulsell is ranked No. 36 in the country. He has played many of the best players in college tennis, including eight of the players in the current top 20. Because of the heavy hitters he's faced, Paulsell has played better than his record. He's 15-17 overall in singles, 8-11 in dual matches and he went 5-5 in completed SEC matches. He and USC transfer Ryan Colby also made a very good No. 2 doubles team, going 8-3.
"Playing No. 1 is one of the tougher things in college," Warren said. "Playing No. 6, you can probably win without your best stuff. At No. 1, that's hard to do. You've got to be able to have your best stuff, or a pretty good version of it, on a daily basis."
When talking about Paulsell's improvement this season, Hunt, Warren and Paulsell all pointed to three critical areas: his serve, his forehand and his defense.
"When you look at what he did so well this year, he defended incredibly well," Hunt said. "It was like all of a sudden, he was making everyone hit one more ball and one more ball."
"I had to bring up my first-serve percentage a lot because if I missed my first serve, they were always going to be attacking second serves," Paulsell said of No. 1 opponents. "Also, as I played more, I got used to the pace versus all these players, and that helped my game out and helped me improve a lot."
"The consistency of how aggressive he's been playing has been really cool to see. He's been hitting the ball so much bigger this year, but not like once or twice. He can go eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 balls in a row, and that's huge," Warren said of trading groundstrokes with his opponents. "His serve — when his serve is on, he's really tough to break. And you need that to play at the top of the lineup.
"One thing that I think is underrated, that he doesn't get enough credit for, is his defense. His defense has gotten so much better. ... Watching him scrap out points and find ways to win points has been so impressive.
Georgia's opposing coaches have been impressed too, Warren said.
"Jamie and I have heard from a lot of coaches this year some version of: 'That guy played seven for you last year?' And now he's beating legit No. 1s. It's been really cool." he said.
It has been cool, and hopefully inspiring for every Bulldog in the lineup. Where you played this season, or if you didn't play much at all, doesn't have to be where you wind up next year. If you put in the work, and if you believe in yourself every time you take the court, you can play anywhere. Just ask Paulsell, who earned his shot at No. 1 and then kept proving he belonged time and time again.
Now, he's out to try to make as deep a run in the NCAAs as he can.
"That was one of my goals before coming to college: make the NCAAs. Updated, it's to become an All-American," he said. "And now I have a chance of doing that. It's very, very exciting. My parents are coming to Stillwater to watch, and they don't come to many matches, so it's going to be fun. I'm very, very excited."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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