Alex the Great - Alex Michelsen Thread
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Rovesciarete
Hall of Fame
Still big babe energy from Mr. Michelsen, will grow into a better athlete over the years. Trying stuff and improving too, love that energy in a youngster. Lots of potential in his serve.
His brilliant backhand DTL will be the bane of many an inside-out forehand.
His brilliant backhand DTL will be the bane of many an inside-out forehand.
ghostofMecir
Legend
Lot of room to improve his physicality (needs the Sir Murray regimen) and serve, but I love the trajectory. Top 35 now.
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
What makes Michelson good compared to other players of his age? What are his strengths?
Net game and backhand are his two biggest strengths IMO. The highlights of the Khachanov match give you a pretty good feel for his game.
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Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
wow, just saw this:
Michelsen became the youngest American to claim multiple top-20 wins at a Grand Slam since Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi at the 1990 U.S. Open.
Michelsen became the youngest American to claim multiple top-20 wins at a Grand Slam since Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi at the 1990 U.S. Open.
Saw a short video of him w ginepri and ginepri's trainer. Alex said that this past year is the first year that he's actually trained, so expect him to get much stronger/fitter.
He needs to go see Paul annacone regarding his serve.
Rovesciarete
Hall of Fame
Did not watch the whole match but seems that de Minaur got him moving a lot. Michelsen is great at absorbing pace, especially with his backhand, but gets troubled by angles and guys taking the ball early.
Winners or Errors
Legend
Michelsen looks like he has a ton of upside. Once he develops a little more and builds some speed (as well as a little more anticipation), he's going to be tough to beat. He does have what look like pretty efficient strokes, easy power on both wings. He is also, IMHO, a pretty natural volleyer. That's Demon at his peak, but he's about at the limit right now, and Michelsen will only get better if he stays healthy. Looking forward to watching more.
Yeah, this sums it up really well. That feels like it will be the next point of emphasis.
Still, he's up to a career-high #36 before being 20.5 years old, and the growth in his game seems evident. The goal (that I made up) of him being top 30 by the end of the year seems readily achievable if he stays healthy and keeps up this level for the rest of the year.
Yes, speed and stamina both need some work, with him already having made improvements from last season, but with a good way still to go.
I think this nails it. For me, it's all about Michelsen unlocking a bit bigger serve. He's already shown some improvement in that regard this year, but I think there's still room for improvement. If he can add a bigger serve to his return of serve, net game, and backhand, he will be tough to handle.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
Tien was still playing futures last summer, a bit unfair to compare to Michelsen who's been on main tour longer. Give Tien at least one full year on main tour before comparing.
atatu
Legend
Agreed, they're pretty close in age, I'm not comparing them necessarily, just asking for predictions over the course of their careers.
ghostofMecir
Legend
Bit of a disappointing start to the season. Also, Houston needed to rig the draw so that Tien and Alex wouldn't okay each other in the first round smh.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
this was his first match on clay at the tour level (he played one future on clay last year, and three in 2022)
ghostofMecir
Legend
Worst match for him in two years at least. Interesting to see all the money come in on him in this match. Alex started as a -150 favorite, went down to -125 and then -115 and at match’s start, +100. Nobody knew what was going to happen on a surface neither really plays on, but the theory was that Alex’s serve advantage would be neutralized on clay and that Alex has not been good on clay last year.
Rovesciarete
Hall of Fame
Difficult to predict how the relative strengths&weakness get altered by surface and matchup. The tough shortish clay grinder is an old stereotype but I fear that tennis has been moving on. Lots more spin and power make a reliance on retrieval ever harder.
Tien needs to hit around player through flat balls played with refined rally skills. Clay makes that far harder so while the impact of his serve deficit is lessened, his tennis core seems severely weakened.
ghostofMecir
Legend
Houston seems to play faster than most clay courts and Alex was hitting through Learner more easily than he did at altitude on a hard court in Riyadh. Alex’s serve was also very, very good, something he has not harnassed as well as I thought he he would at the beginning of the season coming off the end of his season.
Alex got food poisoning (along with many players) in Acapulco and seemed to still be suffering from stomach issues in Indian Wells and Miami. From this match, it looks like he's back to 100%. As ghostofMecir noted, he was cracking his serve here, and his forehand was also dialed in more than it usually is.
PapaTennis
New User
Does anyone know why it appears Alex isn't playing any clay events other than Houston? Looking at entry lists through Madrid, he's not on any of them.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
Michelsen into the Estoril challenger final after beating Nardi and Kecmanovic. Plays Italian qualifier Pellegrino, who beat Felix and Jarry, in the final
And he wins in straight sets and is back up to tie his career-high ranking of #32.
Why is someone this highly ranked playing challengers, not fair to challenger level.
With these 2 week Masters Series events, it's becoming more common for higher ranked players who lose early to play Challenger events during the second week of the Masters Series event.
Yep, understood, I don’t like it at all.
atatu
Legend
Well it's great for the Challengers though, look at the Phoenix challenger this year.
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
North/South Americans, Australians and Asians probably make a business trip to Europe for the clay season and don’t want to spend the money to fly back home and back every time they get knocked out early in a 2-week Masters tournament. So I can see the allure of playing Challenger tournaments rather than staying in a hotel and just practicing. Probably the Europeans will do the same during the North American hard court swing in the summer.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
Michelsen lost to Borges in first round of Geneva today.
ghostofMecir
Legend
Kind of a disappointing year overall for him so far.
Up from #41 to #33 in the live rankings. Made the Australian Open 4th round by beating the #12 and #19 seeds. Won his first Challenger final on his worst surface.
I'm pretty satisfied with his progress for the first part of the year. He lost in the 1R/1R/2R of the French Open/Wimbledon/U.S. Open last year, so he has a lot of points he can pick up. I was hoping he could finish the year in the top 30, and that looks like an achievable goal at this point.
ghostofMecir
Legend
Pretty bad loss today to a 17 year old (he’s talented and an up and comer but still). 0/31 first serve return points won.
Kafel69
Professional
yup, rough, but good thing he can always work on improving. strange, tho, as he did get to Newport's finals two years in a row, so you'd think his return game was ok. Beat Opelka last year 2 and 0 and Isner in '23 6 and 4.
Rovesciarete
Hall of Fame
The serve plus forehand seemed to be the bigger problem today. Against Opelka and Isner you 'just' have to bring the ball back. Engel is a modern European talent with a lot of focus on the follow-up.
Kafel69
Professional
yeah, not a fan of Alex's FH. Similar to Mensik's.
Joseph_K
Hall of Fame
Having upset the no. 5 seed, Francisco Cerundolo, in the first round, Alex Michelsen beat Stefanos Tsitsipas, 7-6(5), 7-5, earlier on Wednesday to advance to the quarter-finals in Halle. The American will next take on the no. 3 seed, Daniil Medvedev, for a place in the last four. The Russian won their only other previous meeting, when Michelsen retired at 0-2 in their third round match at Indian Wells earlier this year.
Nice straight set win over RBA to reach the Mallorca SF and a career-high #31 in the live rankings. If he wins that, he'd be #29 in the live rankings, already matching my prediction of top 30 by the end of the year. And he lost in the first round of Wimbledon last year, so he could pick up some nice points there. At age 20, Alex is still flying under the radar an going about his business.
Alex gets the second top 10 win of his career by coming back to beat Musetti, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4. This is the type of match he would have lost a year ago, but, instead, he sets homself up for a winnable match against a countryman: either Opelka or his friend Tien.
This is the slow, steady progress I expected from Alex. It still feels like fitness and forehand are the two things he needs to unlock to get to the next level.
This is the slow, steady progress I expected from Alex. It still feels like fitness and forehand are the two things he needs to unlock to get to the next level.
ghostofMecir
Legend
Big win as was the previous one. Hopefully this gets his confidence back up.
he lost a lot of winnable matches after winning the Estoril Challenger on the way back when. He didn't even really get any terrible draws, but I lost a lot of first round matches never highly win and at least 75% of them he was the favorite.
He should be inside the top 20 right now, but this is good.
he lost a lot of winnable matches after winning the Estoril Challenger on the way back when. He didn't even really get any terrible draws, but I lost a lot of first round matches never highly win and at least 75% of them he was the favorite.
He should be inside the top 20 right now, but this is good.
Moose Malloy
G.O.A.T.
Thanks! Interesting tidbit.
Michelsen is into the Almaty semifinals, where he'll face the winner of Struff and Moutet. Alex's game has plateaued a bit this season, as he's hovered in the 30-40 range most of the year. But he's playing well this week and should have a solid shot to make the finals and build some momentum going into the offseason. His fitness has definitely improved, and the question is now whether he can improve his serve and movement enough in the offseason to fight for a spot in the top 20 next season.
ghostofMecir
Legend
Poor end to last year (3-8 in his final 11 matches), but he starts off with a tough mental battle win over Duckworth who’s battle tested playing many matches on the challenger tour even if his game and physicality isn’t there anymore at his age.
Now against childhood friend Tien who has been rising.
Now against childhood friend Tien who has been rising.
