Tommy Paul abruptly ends 2025 season after withdrawing from Paris Masters due to ongoing foot problem

In a season that commenced with so much promise, it will finish in anguish and frustration for Tommy Paul who has called an end to his 2025 campaign after pulling out of the Paris Masters. Multiple injury setbacks have seen the 28-year-old spend too much time on the sideline, as he now looks to a more positive 2026.

As the Asian swing came and went, there was no sign of Paul on the court, with him last featuring in a third-round matchup against Alexander Bublik in the US Open, failing to take a match point enroute to being one the wrong end of a five-set thriller. A left-foot injury kept him out for the time that disappointment, with the American unable to fully recover from it ahead of the European indoor swing, ultimately seeing his 2025 campaign go up in smoke.

After reaching four finals and clinching three titles in 2024, Paul had momentum behind him going into this calendar year. A semi-final appearance in Adelaide was closely followed by his third Grand Slam quarter-final appearance, eventually losing out runner-up Alexander Zverev after being hammered in two early tiebreakers. While this did not match his 2023 semi-final showing, it was still a huge positive after inconsistent major performances the year prior prevented him from progressing.

A semi-final in the Dallas Open was another positive result, but a chance missed to pick up a maiden title in 2025, losing to champion Denis Shapovalov. His form would slightly fall off as he headed towards the clay swing, which is where the injury setbacks began. At the Madrid Open, Paul would suffer a problem with his foot. This was due to his old broken-in orthotics went missing in the locker-room. This forced him to break into some new ones, with discomfort immediately being felt. An MRI scan revealed a problem with the peroneus longus tendon in his left foot.

Not wanting to let this get the better of him, Paul soldiered on through the pain to achieve a brace of positive results on clay. The first came in Rome, where he a run all the way to the semi-final stage, equalling his performance in 2024. Despite winning the first set against home-hero Jannik Sinner 6-1, he could only muster up three more games for the rest of the match, ultimately being unable to keep up with the former world number one. It would be the current world number one Carlos Alcaraz that got the better of him at Roland Garros, with Paul reaching consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals for the first time in his career. This was hugely impressive when you put in the fact that he was struggling throughout with an abdominal and abductor issue.

Moving onto grass, and his foot issue crops up again. While competing in Wimbledon, disaster struck. In his second-round tie against Sebastian Ofner, he heard a pop, raising concerns and worry about the implications from this. He went on to lose in four-sets to the Austrian, with the injury being confirmed as a ruptured tendon. At this point Paul had shot up to a new height of eight in the rankings, cementing his status as one of the best. This was not going to last, however, with him now sitting in 15th.

He attempted to make a comeback in the Cincinnati Open, losing in the second-round to French qualifier Adrian Mannarino. The subsequent five-set defeat to Bublik ended his campaign in Flushing Meadows, with the pain too much to take for Paul as he pulled out of the Davis Cup qualifiers and the Laver Cup. The news of him withdrawing from the Paris Masters ends what was once a hugely promising season on a bitter note.