A lucky charm has been the key to Tommy Paul's best-ever US Open run. But it's not a rabbit's foot keychain or a four-leaf clover.
No, it's Eddie—a young super-fan from Brooklyn who's been front-and-center for Paul's last two wins in New York.
As front-and-center as you can be at about four-feet tall, anyway.
Paul first met Eddie when the youngster was seated on a jam-packed and raucous Court 17 for the duration of Paul's five-set, three-hour win against Wimbledon quarterfinalist Roman Safiullin in Wednesday's second round. After Paul came from two-sets-to-love down to win—his first such comeback in his career—the No. 14 seed went over and gifted him one of his red New Balance shirts.
"He was the only one out there who was like, 'I'm here all night, I'm here all night!'," Paul said.
"He wanted to be in my ear the whole match," Paul later told reporters. "It was actually really fun every time I went over there. He was encouraging me, I mean, damn near coaching me. I had to go over there and give him some love.
"I told him, like, 'Dude, you have to come to the next one. Get in contact with me, message me on Instagram or whatever and we'll get it hooked up.'"
Paul made good on his promise. On Friday, Eddie was back courtside, vocal cords at the ready, for Paul's Round 3 match inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, and got to watch Paul's four-set win over No. 21 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina that put him into Round 4 in New York for the first time.
"I think we got him tickets to our box, but he ended up getting better tickets right on the side of the court," Paul later said. "I was definitely hearing him. It was fun.
"He definitely got louder after I lost the third, which was cool. I went and talked to him a little bit after, but it's really cool to have him here. I'm hoping he becomes famous or something."
Hoping to keep his deepest-ever run in New York going, Paul next takes on Ben Shelton in an all-American fourth-rounder that's a rematch of the quarterfinal they played at January's Australian Open, won by Paul in four sets.
But will Eddie be there, too? If Paul has his way, there's only one answer.
"I'm not playing a match here without him," Paul said. "He's coming back."
