He's been struggling with a knee injury for most of the year.
Alex the Great - Alex Michelsen Thread
- Thread starter buscemi
- Start date
Rovesciarete
Hall of Fame
I have to say that he is a quite interesting player, have to keep an eye on him. From the ATP article:
Good returning, decent movement and a strong backhand are for a tall guy far more important fundamentals than a strong serve and forehand. Serves basically almost always improve a lot for a young pro and even the latter seems more trainable to me.
Good returning, decent movement and a strong backhand are for a tall guy far more important fundamentals than a strong serve and forehand. Serves basically almost always improve a lot for a young pro and even the latter seems more trainable to me.
Last edited:
chrischris
G.O.A.T.
He should have won the match yesterday.
Rovesciarete
Hall of Fame
Arguably. I saw only the highlights, surprising to see an American player getting more spectacular backhand than forehand winners.
chrischris
G.O.A.T.
His opponent had cramping issues that were real evident the last few games of the 5th set maybe the highlights didnt show that. Alex ought to be smart enough and able to win due to that imo
Rovesciarete
Hall of Fame
Ah okey, thanks. Highlights can be deceiving because they leave out the lowlights...
chrischris
G.O.A.T.
True, having seen the whole match it was sad to see him lose.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
Michelson plays WC Aussie McCabe in first round of AO. Could play Lehecka in R2
Looks like a good draw to me. McCabe is definitely someone whom Michelsen can beat, and you can't ask for a better draw as an unseeded player than having the #32 seed in the second round.
Solid 4 set win over McCabe. Lehečka looked really good in his first round win, Should be a tall order to beat him in round 2. Good early test to see his progress in the offseason.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
He looked great, serve has improved. Wouldn't be surprised if he beats Zverev. He's having a Shelton like rise in rankings(only turned pro last summer, won a round at USO, then tore up the challenger circuit to get directly into AO).
Last edited:
James P
G.O.A.T.
Very shocked, somewhat wrote him off after a forgettable Next Gen Finals campaign.
ghostofMecir
Legend
I won $200 betting on him
he was definitely the underdog against a player who is playing well, but the oddsmaker didn’t make them that big of an underdog (+280). They know he’s a real deal and oddsmakers are going to give them a slight chance against ChainzMoose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
Do you know what the odds for Michelsen-Zverev are? Thanks!I won $200 betting on him
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
nice video about his background and his parents reluctance about going pro
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
Whoah, Zverev-Michelson gets the night match on Laver tomorrow.
ghostofMecir
Legend
AM is a +450 underdog. It’s a pretty big underdog, but they’re giving him a bit of a chance and this might be worth putting some money on.
Rovesciarete
Hall of Fame
Interesting bits in that video, I like his backhand a lot and now understand why he is different than most pros and especially American ones. Not too happy with his forehand but we will see. His return numbers are quite low, but not too bad considering his growth patter, while his serve is holding up well. He looks very young and his athleticism will improve.
Zverev has been serving great and has let Klein dominating the rallies. Hard to see this Alex doing that, but it will be nice to see how his backhand will work. I guess much down-line stuff incoming.
Zverev has been serving great and has let Klein dominating the rallies. Hard to see this Alex doing that, but it will be nice to see how his backhand will work. I guess much down-line stuff incoming.
What's telling about his return is that he beat isner on grass. The fact that he favors his backhand is also a plus for his return.
Rovesciarete
Hall of Fame
The stats aren’t great but not quite as shockingly bad as Shelton’s. Return and backhand are generally harder to improve.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
If he is ranked around 75, he should be in the Indian Wells draw for sure, right?
Don Felder
Semi-Pro
Kid needs more weapons.
Solid loss against Tommy Paul in a third set tiebreaker in the 2nd round of the Delray Beach Open. He hung with a top 15 player for the better part of three sets (was even up a break early in the third set). If he can improve his conditioning a bit and keep working on his serve and forehand, he can be really good by the end of the year.
ghostofMecir
Legend
A top 15 player who is playing the best tennis of his life. Great signs.
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
As a local kid, he is going to be big ‘box office’ at Indian Wells.
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
You think most of the local Indian Wells snobs even know who he is?
Rovesciarete
Hall of Fame
So far he strikes me as the most promising US prospect in the last couple of years. To be honest too little data to back that up but I like a lot about that kid.
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
It's strange, because he doesn't look like he should be very good, but he's getting the results.
That said, Shelton still has to be the American with the most upside potential.
Rovesciarete
Hall of Fame
This is the strange thing. Precocious Shelton may be more limited as he has pronounced strengths more akin to a mature player but also glaring weaknesses difficult to fix.
Alex defends quite well for being tall and not (yet) a great athlete and has a great backhand. He still looks very young and seems to work well off the court. We lack data but from now on it is all about growth and improvement.
Damn, that would be incredible, but I think he might still be a year away. Awesome win today. His net game keeps getting better. If he can get some more juice on his serve, he's going to be a problem.
Don Felder
Semi-Pro
Great win against The Demon. Probably caught him a little jet lagged and tired from the Rotterdam final but still have to take advantage of it, and Alex did. He seems like a great kid. I’m rooting for him.
ghostofMecir
Legend
He will be close, I think. ADM had been playing really well and of course he was really tired after coming off of two straight weeks of playing. This is probably the last time anyone’s going to get really good odds for Michaelson. I got him at +295 on opening versus a very tired . ADM
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
Is he going to get more athletic though? I know he's young and will mature physically, but in what way? In some ways he still looks like a kid, but in others he already looks like an older guy. Sometimes guys his age end up losing more "baby fat" as they mature, but sometimes you see guys that peak in their late teens/very early 20's, and then get a little bulky and less explosive.
Absolutely. I don't know if he always volleys that well, but he showed some amazing touch and placement.
He said on post match interview he is not a good volleyer usually!
I feel like he was being modest. He's known for having a good volleys, especially for his age. I see him a lot like Kafelnikov, with his strengths being his two handed backhand and net game. Similar size, too, with Alex being a bit bigger. Unlocking a bigger serve could be the key to contending for Majors.
And a bagel in the first set. Not the highest quality set from either, but still...
