Alex the Great - Alex Michelsen Thread

ey039524

Hall of Fame
Seems like every 2nd match these days, a player is doing something idiotic on the court, so damn lucky he wasn't defaulted in that final after hitting a spectator whilst going down 0-4 in the 1st set.
What did he do?

Didn't watch, but what happened? The scoreline looks terrible.
 

The Green Mile

Bionic Poster
What did he do?

Didn't watch, but what happened? The scoreline looks terrible.
Put a volley long at the net giving Sonego the double break and then smacked a ball away in frustration, which hit somebody in the crowd.

I'm just so over these sorts of incidents in tennis tbh, players spazzing out and doing stupid ****, maybe it's because social media is picking up on everything going on in professional tennis these days, and hardly anything is missed, compared to way back.
 

Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
Put a volley long at the net giving Sonego the double break and then smacked a ball away in frustration, which hit somebody in the crowd.

I'm just so over these sorts of incidents in tennis tbh, players spazzing out and doing stupid ****, maybe it's because social media is picking up on everything going on in professional tennis these days, and hardly anything is missed, compared to way back.

Today it is so much harder to get away with such a silly stupidly, cameras everywhere. Alex did a good job until he confronted Sonego and he smacked that ball. Making progress.
 

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
how is it that for novak he's auto default for hitting a faking lineswoman but for Michaelson, its perfectly ok after hitting the Fan.???????? :unsure: :unsure:
 

Joseph_K

Hall of Fame
Alex Michelsen and Mackenzie McDonald have indeed been awarded a wildcard into the main draw of the men's doubles event at the U.S. Open. Later today, in first-round action, they will face Julian Cash and Robert Galloway who, although unseeded, are a very capable pair.
 

buscemi

Legend
Michelsen smoked Coric, 6-3, 6-3 in the FQR of Tokyo to set up a first round match with Tsitsipas. Beating the Greek will be a tall order, but I'll be looking to see if Alex can set up a lot of backhand-to-backhand rallies where he'll have a big advantage.
 

buscemi

Legend
BAM! Michelsen takes down Tsitsipas 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 for the biggest win of his career. Tsitsipas looked fatigued on the heels of Laver Cup, but Alex's backhand was on fire in sets 2 & 3. He's up to a career-high #45 in the live rankings and has a winnable second round against O'Connell next. All in all, I would say Alex is ahead of schedule and where I expected him to be by the end of the year.
 
Michelsen smoked Coric, 6-3, 6-3 in the FQR of Tokyo to set up a first round match with Tsitsipas. Beating the Greek will be a tall order, but I'll be looking to see if Alex can set up a lot of backhand-to-backhand rallies where he'll have a big advantage.
BAM! Michelsen takes down Tsitsipas 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 for the biggest win of his career. Tsitsipas looked fatigued on the heels of Laver Cup, but Alex's backhand was on fire in sets 2 & 3. He's up to a career-high #45 in the live rankings and has a winnable second round against O'Connell next. All in all, I would say Alex is ahead of schedule and where I expected him to be by the end of the year.
Michelson looking great here so far. This guy has made me so much money this year lol. I can’t believe he was only a -200 favorite at match time vs. Coric.
 

ey039524

Hall of Fame
I'm hoping that he continues to develop his serve, so he doesn't end up being another Brooksby. His backhand is a weapon, which is good thing on tour these days, considering it's a weakness for many players.
 
I'm hoping that he continues to develop his serve, so he doesn't end up being another Brooksby. His backhand is a weapon, which is good thing on tour these days, considering it's a weakness for many players.
Serve looked great vs. Tsitsipas, but then again, so does everyone else’s as well vs. the Greek philosopher and the court is playing super fast. But I thought the pace looked better than it has.
 
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Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
As I have written before he is an un-orthodox American as he returns well and has a great backhand. Movement is still subpar but he is very young and looks the part with his baby-face. Size is excellent and there is some big upside for his serve. The forehand is also easier to improve and he seems to have a good, smart work ethic.

American brands should keep a close eye and fear to pull the trigger too late.

Think he is shaping up nicely, good growth trajectory…
 

buscemi

Legend
Solid showing against Djokovic, losing in two tiebreakers, despite holding set points in the latter one. I was glad to see Alex being aggressive in coming to net and hitting down the line. This year, he's had a lot of solid showings where he didn't quite have the combo of mentality and stamina to get across the finish line, but I feel like he's poised to have a breakthrough next year.
 
Solid showing against Djokovic, losing in two tiebreakers, despite holding set points in the latter one. I was glad to see Alex being aggressive in coming to net and hitting down the line. This year, he's had a lot of solid showings where he didn't quite have the combo of mentality and stamina to get across the finish line, but I feel like he's poised to have a breakthrough next year.

I definitely agree with your last sentence – everything about his game is improving, including the serve. He also showed on this faster surface that he could be aggressive and take lead in the rallies and in the points. Honestly, I think he would’ve won if he had taken one of those set points in the second set as I don’t think Djokovic would’ve fought too hard in the third set.
 

Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
I definitely agree with your last sentence – everything about his game is improving, including the serve. He also showed on this faster surface that he could be aggressive and take lead in the rallies and in the points. Honestly, I think he would’ve won if he had taken one of those set points in the second set as I don’t think Djokovic would’ve fought too hard in the third set.

Michel’s son is shaping up nicely with his non-American game, backhand and all. His serve is on a good trajectory...
 

buscemi

Legend
Maybe the best match of Michelsen's career with a 6-1, 6-3 demolition job over Hurkacz. He won 14/18 points on Hurk's second serve and generated 13 break points (while facing none himself) in two short sets. And he has a winnable match up next against Rinderknech.
 
Maybe the best match of Michelsen's career with a 6-1, 6-3 demolition job over Hurkacz. He won 14/18 points on Hurk's second serve and generated 13 break points (while facing none himself) in two short sets. And he has a winnable match up next against Rinderknech.

Great bounce back match after the poor one vs. Giron
 

buscemi

Legend
After losing a lot of tight matches earlier in the year, Alex comes back from 0-4 down in the third set tiebreaker and saves some match points to finish off Gasquet. He's into the Moselle Open QF, where he has a winnable match against de Jong or Bu. Solid way to close the year (with the Next Gen finals still to come).
 
After losing a lot of tight matches earlier in the year, Alex comes back from 0-4 down in the third set tiebreaker and saves some match points to finish off Gasquet. He's into the Moselle Open QF, where he has a winnable match against de Jong or Bu. Solid way to close the year (with the Next Gen finals still to come).

Absolutely needed this one. Some bad luck balanced out here. It wasn’t a good match for him form wise as he should be able to handle Gasquet and his serve easily (jumped to a -600 favorite at match time) but didn’t.
 

buscemi

Legend
Michelsen blows set points in the first set tiebreaker and a 3-0, double break lead in the third set, but pulls out a win over Bu to make the Metz SF. He's up to a career-high #41 in the live rankings. Winnable match in the SF against Bonzi that would take him into the top 40 at #39. It would be a pretty cool cap to the season in the top 40 (with a solid chance to bag his first title as well).
 
Michelsen blows set points in the first set tiebreaker and a 3-0, double break lead in the third set, but pulls out a win over Bu to make the Metz SF. He's up to a career-high #41 in the live rankings. Winnable match in the SF against Bonzi that would take him into the top 40 at #39. It would be a pretty cool cap to the season in the top 40 (with a solid chance to bag his first title as well).

Other than Djokovic, Alex has been clearly a better player than the players he’s faced but he’s learning how to win. Good stuff.
 
Michelsen blows set points in the first set tiebreaker and a 3-0, double break lead in the third set, but pulls out a win over Bu to make the Metz SF. He's up to a career-high #41 in the live rankings. Winnable match in the SF against Bonzi that would take him into the top 40 at #39. It would be a pretty cool cap to the season in the top 40 (with a solid chance to bag his first title as well).

Bonzi has been on a challenger tear and is used to winning. I’m shocked he’s the slight favorite, i.e., (-120)
 

PapaTennis

New User
Really hoping Alex can do it. He said his goal for the year was Top 50. A couple of wins and he's two no-shows away from being seeded at the AO. Completely winnable pair of matches if he can figure it out mentally.
 

Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
Fast indoor surfaces like in the NextGen tend to make his backhand shine more. Improving his serve is key, much potential there. I hope that serving with the ‘wrong‘ hand won’t have too much of an impact in years to come.
 

buscemi

Legend
Fast indoor surfaces like in the NextGen tend to make his backhand shine more. Improving his serve is key, much potential there. I hope that serving with the ‘wrong‘ hand won’t have too much of an impact in years to come.
Yep. Serve and stamina seem like the biggest issue to me, but both are already looking better at these Next Gen finals than they did a year ago. I'm excited to see how he does in 2025.
 

Aabye5

G.O.A.T.
It will be interesting to see how he does in the NextGen Finals tournament this week as guys like Alcaraz, Sinner, Tsitsipas who have won it previously became top 10 players pretty fast. Let’s see how he fares against the other 19-year olds like Fils and van Assche.

What happened to Nakashima as he seems to have dropped out of sight after winning the tournament last year?

Some injuries. Did pretty well during the indoor portion of this year.
 

Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
Yep. Serve and stamina seem like the biggest issue to me, but both are already looking better at these Next Gen finals than they did a year ago. I'm excited to see how he does in 2025.

For his height he keeps strange serve company. Less aces than De Minaur, Machac and Norrie. Maybe he should go a bit more for the lines but his second serve doesn’t look great either. A bigger forehand would also help a lo…

RkPlayer
M​
SPW​
SPW-InP​
Ace%​
DF%​
1stIn​
1st%​
2nd%​
2%-InP​
Hld%​
27Sebastian Baez [ARG]
59
60.3%​
60.6%​
2.8%​
2.4%​
71.8%​
63.7%​
51.5%​
56.3%​
73.5%​
43Pedro Martinez [ESP]
41
59.7%​
61.8%​
2.9%​
5.0%​
68.7%​
65.7%​
46.7%​
55.6%​
72.3%​
47Mariano Navone [ARG]
42
57.9%​
58.2%​
3.2%​
2.9%​
66.2%​
62.8%​
48.2%​
52.7%​
67.9%​
30Francisco Cerundolo [ARG]
66
62.1%​
62.9%​
4.2%​
3.8%​
64.3%​
67.9%​
51.7%​
57.8%​
77.4%​
17Lorenzo Musetti [ITA]
68
64.0%​
63.8%​
4.4%​
2.1%​
64.7%​
70.4%​
52.4%​
55.7%​
78.8%​
41Alex Michelsen [USA]
60
63.3%​
63.2%​
5.5%​
3.0%​
67.9%​
69.0%​
51.3%​
56.6%​
79.3%​
50Juncheng Shang [CHN]
43
64.3%​
64.3%​
5.5%​
3.0%​
61.6%​
70.9%​
53.7%​
58.3%​
80.4%​
9Alex De Minaur [AUS]
68
64.4%​
64.6%​
6.2%​
3.6%​
54.6%​
72.6%​
54.6%​
59.3%​
80.7%​
25Tomas Machac [CZE]
56
63.2%​
63.0%​
6.3%​
3.3%​
64.0%​
69.1%​
52.8%​
58.1%​
79.0%​
49Cameron Norrie [GBR]
39
65.1%​
64.6%​
6.3%​
2.7%​
64.3%​
72.6%​
51.6%​
55.8%​
82.1%​
3Carlos Alcaraz [ESP]
67
68.1%​
67.9%​
6.3%​
2.6%​
65.5%​
73.6%​
57.7%​
62.5%​
86.7%​
46Marcos Giron [USA]
53
64.3%​
63.1%​
6.5%​
1.8%​
60.3%​
73.1%​
51.1%​
53.5%​
81.0%​
 

Aabye5

G.O.A.T.
What's the upside on Alex M? Not quite the serve of Shelton, not quite the speed of Tiafoe, nor the groundstrokes of Tommy Paul.
 

buscemi

Legend
What's the upside on Alex M? Not quite the serve of Shelton, not quite the speed of Tiafoe, nor the groundstrokes of Tommy Paul.
I think Tommy Paul is a pretty good comp. Yes, Michelsen's groundstrokes are not at Paul's level yet, but he's ranked #42 at age 20 while Paul was #152 in 2017 at age 20 and wouldn't get to #43 until 2021 at age 24. Michelsen's backhand is already rock solid, and his forehand has gotten a lot better. And, with his height, there's still some room for growth on the serve. Plus, he already has a pretty good net game.
 

Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
I think Tommy Paul is a pretty good comp. Yes, Michelsen's groundstrokes are not at Paul's level yet, but he's ranked #42 at age 20 while Paul was #152 in 2017 at age 20 and wouldn't get to #43 until 2021 at age 24. Michelsen's backhand is already rock solid, and his forehand has gotten a lot better. And, with his height, there's still some room for growth on the serve. Plus, he already has a pretty good net game.

I expect a (much) better career for Michelsen...
 
I really like the trajectory of where his serve is headed – this could be some big things for him next year. I do have to say, though that learner Tien is already one of the best ball strikers on tour. He may not have the biggest weight of shot, but he takes the ball extraordinarily early and has some of the best racket prep that you’ll see anywhere. I was surprised at how easily Alex lost those last two sets though
 
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ey039524

Hall of Fame
I really like the trajectory of where his serve is headed – this could be some big things for him next year. I do have to say, though that learner Tien is already one of the best ball strikers on tour, you may not have the biggest weight of shot, but he takes the ball extraordinarily early and has some of the best racket prep that you’ll see anywhere. I was surprised at how easily Alex lost those last two sets though
When Karue played him in a challenger this year, he said that learner's ball is extremely tricky: low and fast. Karue said he felt rushed to go for winners too early. Learner won the match.
 
When Karue played him in a challenger this year, he said that learner's ball is extremely tricky: low and fast. Karue said he felt rushed to go for winners when too early. Learner won the match.
It‘s a shame height is wasted on some players—make Tien 3+ inches taller and he would become a dominant force though, of course, he may not develop the same racket talent. Even at his height, he can serve that slice out wide on the AD side that lands halfway in the box, which is incredible. Players 4, 5, 6+ inches taller cant hit that serve.
 

ey039524

Hall of Fame
It‘s a shame height is wasted on some players—make Tien 3+ inches taller and he would become a dominant force though, of course, he may not develop the same racket talent. Even at his height, he can serve that slice out wide on the AD side that lands halfway in the box, which is incredible. Players 4, 5, 6+ inches taller cant hit that serve.
Mannarino is the best at that slice.
 

buscemi

Legend
Great win over Sonego in Auckland, 7-6, 6-2. Sonego had smoked him, 6-0, 6-3 in the Winston-Salem final last year, so this is a solid sign of progress early in the year.
 

buscemi

Legend
Great win by Alex over Tsitsipas, probably the biggest of his career. This is definitely a match he would have lost last year. But, despite some nervy moments in the fourth set, he pulled it out.
 
Great win by Alex over Tsitsipas, probably the biggest of his career. This is definitely a match he would have lost last year. But, despite some nervy moments in the fourth set, he pulled it out.
The best part about it was that throughout the match he was clearly the better player. It’s really interesting because when this match first went into the books, iTsitsipas was something like a -200 or -215 or -225 and all the money kept on coming in on Alex.
 

Joseph_K

Hall of Fame
Alex Michelsen has an excellent chance of reaching the Last 32 at this year's Australian Open. His second-round opponent is 21-year-old wildcard James McCabe, who was born in the Philippines to an Irish father and a Filipina mother, but represents Australia. He had an impressive three-set win over Martin Landaluce in the first round, but the rising star Michelsen should be too good for him. When the same two players met in the first round of the same tournament in 2024, the American won in four sets. That is their only previous meeting.
 
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buscemi

Legend
Solid straight set win over McCabe, with no break points faced throughout the match. Just a meat and potatoes match, with Alex doing what's now expected of him. Khachanov in the third round should be a great test of where his game currently stands.
 

atatu

Legend
Watching the first set vs. Khachanov now, Alex hit a drop shot at deuce serving out the set and he got a very evil look on his face like "Chucky" from those old horror movies. It was disconcerting....
 

buscemi

Legend
Great straight set win over Khachanov to reach the first 4R of his career at a Major. Great, controlled aggression throughout the match.
 

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
At 20 years 154 days, Michelsen becomes the fifth-youngest American man in the Open Era to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open: Pete Sampras (18 years 169 days in 1990), Sammy Giammalva (19 years 264 days in 1982), Andy Roddick (20 years 149 days in 2003) and Shelton (20 years 112 days in 2023).

Learner Tien (19 years, 55 days) is bidding to become the second-youngest American man in the Open Era to reach the round of 16 here).

 
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