Carlos Alcaraz Dominates Tommy Paul with Cannon Forehand
Carlos Alcaraz has not come back quietly. Four months out with a right wrist injury, no tournaments since Barcelona, and yet at the US Open he is tearing through the draw like he never left.
On Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, he brushed aside Tommy Paul 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals, dropping just his second set of the tournament in four matches. For long stretches, he looked untouchable. Paul felt it. His coach could hardly believe it.
“That Racket’s Juiced”
Brad Stine has seen a lot in tennis. The veteran coach has worked with top pros, watched countless heavy hitters, and lived through several eras of power baseline tennis. Still, what Alcaraz produced off his forehand against Paul left him almost laughing in disbelief.
“Carlos’s forehand was absolutely astounding,” Stine told Tennis Channel after the two-hour, 20-minute defeat. “I actually said yesterday to a couple of people. I want to have them do drug testing on that racket.”
He didn’t stop there.
“I think there’s something. I think that racket’s juiced. It’s got to be juiced. It can’t be him, can it? Because every time he touches the ball with that racket, it just goes. It comes off like a cannon.”
From courtside, it certainly looked that way. Time and again, Paul worked his way into neutral rallies, only for Alcaraz to detonate a forehand that ripped through the court and the American’s defenses. The second seed took the ball early, stepped inside the baseline, and turned routine exchanges into outright assaults.
Paul’s Momentum Meets a Wall
Paul did not arrive in New York short of belief. Ranked No. 21 in the world, he came into the match buoyed by a recent win over Alexander Zverev in Cincinnati and the knowledge that he has pushed Alcaraz hard in the past.
This time, the door never really opened.
Alcaraz broke once in each set, managed the scoreboard with the calm of a seasoned champion, and never allowed the American crowd to truly swing behind the home player. When Paul did land a clean strike, Alcaraz often answered with something heavier, sharper, more audacious.
The context makes it all the more striking. The Spaniard had not played a competitive event since the Barcelona Open in April. Wrist injuries can haunt a player’s confidence, especially on the forehand side. Instead of caution, Alcaraz has unleashed.
Across his first four matches at Flushing Meadows, he has surrendered only one set. The rhythm, the aggression, the swagger—everything that defined his rise has returned in a hurry.
A Slice of History
The win over Paul carried a little extra weight in the record books. Alcaraz has now beaten the American at all four Grand Slam tournaments, becoming just the 10th man in the Open Era to defeat the same opponent at each of the majors.
Their rivalry has grown quickly. Sunday marked their ninth meeting on tour, with Alcaraz now leading the head-to-head 7–2. Before New York, their most recent clash came in the fourth round of the 2026 Australian Open, where Alcaraz won in straight sets and went on to lift the title.
Paul knows exactly what he’s up against every time their names land on the same line of a draw.
“I think I’ve played him more than anybody on tour, for me, which is kind of crazy,” he said before this match. “But yeah, we’ve had some good matches. One really bad beatdown at the French Open. But he’s the test. Him and Sinner; they’ve been playing great.”
On Arthur Ashe, that “test” looked more like an exam with no right answers.
New York Night Awaits Ben Shelton
The defending champion’s reward is another American under the lights: Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, September 8, in the night session at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Shelton brings raw power, a huge lefty serve, and the kind of fearlessness that can ignite a New York crowd. Alcaraz brings the full package—and a forehand that has rival camps joking about racket inspections.
If this is what Alcaraz looks like after four months out, what happens when someone finally finds a way to slow that cannon down?
