Alex Michelsen

Alex Michelsen Earns Future Major Championship Contender Praise From John McEnroe

January 19, 2024 by Admin

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

During his run at the 2024 Australian Open, Alex Michelsen is already receiving super high praise from four-time U.S. Open champion John McEnroe.

Commentating on the tournament for ESPN, McEnroe said that the 19-year-old new pro Michelsen is one of the most likely American men to break through a win their first major singles title.

“We’ve talked about the top-five (American players), who’s the most likely of those people to win a major first…I’d put him above two or three of those other guys,” said McEnroe. “I’d put him behind (Ben) Shelton, sort of. I’m a little bummed about Frances Tiafoe right now. I’ve dropped him down, put him up there around where (Sebastian) Korda is. Actually, Michelsen’s just got so much tennis sense and tennis skill. He believes already. You can tell the way he goes about his business on the court. He’s a really good player.”

During this segment, McEnroe did not specifically say who he thought had the best chance of the Americans to win a major and if this included current U.S. No. 1 Taylor Fritz or U.S. No. 2 Tommy Paul.

ESPN’s Chris Fowler, in the commentary booth with McEnroe, then asked, “Do you like the intangibles? He’s also a pretty good mover for six-five and he can still improve his serve a lot. That’s an area of growth for him, you’d think, to see.”

McEnroe answered, “Absolutely. He’s going to be a guy we’re going to be talking about.”

An American man has not won a major singles title since Andy Roddick won his only major singles title at the 2003 U.S. Open.

Following his second round win in Melbourne over No. 32 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, Michelsen was interviewed by ESPN’s Brad Gilbert, who first saw Michelsen play almost exactly a year ago at the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit ITF World Tennis Tour event in Malibu, California, where he reached the final, losing a three-set final to Arthur Fery of Great Britain and Stanford University.

Said Gilbert, “A year ago at this time, I saw you play the Malibu Futures. You were ranked 600 in the world where you got to the finals there. What’s the biggest difference a year on now for Alex Michelsen? Said Michelsen, “I think mentally I’ve gotten a lot better because, I don’t know if you remember that final, but it was a roller coaster up and down mentally. And also, my serve and forehand have improved tremendously because those are the two things that are my biggest weaknesses. So ever since I’ve been working on those a ton, it’s just been getting so much better.”

Michelsen was signed to play college tennis for Coach Manny Diaz and the Georgia Bulldogs, but ironically, under the guidance and brilliant coaching by Eric Diaz, the son of Manny Diaz, Michelsen told his coach’s dad that he would not be playing college tennis for him and would turn pro, shortly after he had an amazing run to the ATP singles final in Newport, Rhode Island that moved his ATP ranking inside the top 150.

What Is Next For Newport After The Hall of Fame Championships “Retirement”?

November 9, 2023 by Admin

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

After 2024, the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, the only grass court pro tennis tournament outside of Europe, will be no longer.

The ATP Tour announced on November 8, 2023 that the long-time annual tournament held on the historic grounds of the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. will be “retired” in a new-look ATP Tour schedule. Basically, with the events in Canada and Cincinnati going from one-week events to two week events, tournament weeks needed to be sacrificed. Newport, held the week after Wimbledon, and the Atlanta Open, played the week after Newport, were the sacrificial lambs.

In announcing their tournament’s upcoming swan-song in 2024, the International Tennis Hall of Fame labeled its email blast press release “New era of professional tennis to begin in 2025 for International Tennis Hall of Fame.” The Hall of Fame’s press release stated in its first sentence, “The International Tennis Hall of Fame will be introducing new professional tennis events in Newport in 2025” and then stated. “The ITHF is also in the process of reimagining professional tennis in Newport with the expectation that beginning in 2025 a new era of pro tennis on the historic courts will begin.”

Dan Faber, the new Hall of Fame CEO, said in the press release, “World-class tennis has been part of the fabric of Newport for nearly 150 years and will continue to have an ongoing presence at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The ITHF is actively exploring the opportunities to host new professional tennis events in Newport. In addition, we will continue to strengthen our digital programming, museum and visitor experience, worldwide presence, and presentation of the Ultimate Honor in Tennis – induction into the Hall of Fame.”

Newport is undoubtedly one of the most historic and treasured venues for tennis. A major part of promoting tennis (or any type of event) is promoting its history and tradition. High-level tournaments have been held at the Newport Casino since 1881 when the first edition of the modern-day U.S. Open was held there. The site hosted the U.S. Championships until 1914 and continued to host annual events in the summer grass court events on the “Eastern Circuit” as well some Davis Cup matches among other special events.

So what event will replace the officially sanctioned ATP Tour event? The Hall of Fame could go “full circle” and have an exhibition event, which is exactly what the inaugural edition of the Hall of Fame Championships was in 1976, when Vijay Amritraj won the title. At the time, in only the eighth full year of pro tennis in the “Open Era,” the event was not an ATP sanctioned event but was labeled an exhibition event. It was actually then held in September after the U.S. Open and not in the current July date. To boot, the semifinal and final-round matches were best-of-five set matches with Amritraj beating Brian Teacher 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in a four-set final. (The ATP, retroactively, recognized this, among other events during this nebulous era of pro tennis, as an “official” event for the sake of player’s historical records.)

In 2025 and 2026, there will still be an open week after Wimbledon on the pro tennis calendar and, presumably, before the start of the Washington, D.C. combined ATP and WTA tournament, which could allow for some ATP and WTA pros to play some sort of Newport exhibition event – perhaps an eight or 16-player mini prize money tournament – that would not conflict with an ATP or WTA tournament that week in North America. This would be, presumably, the week where the traditional ATP clay-court events are held in Gstaad, Switzerland and Bastad, Sweden, as part of a mini clay-court circuit that also includes the 500-level event in Hamburg, Germany. This is also the week where the new Hopman Cup was played in Nice, France on clay in 2023. Could perhaps the Hopman Cup find a new home in Newport for this week after Wimbledon?

During the 2023 Hall of Fame Open, a “Ultimate Tennis Showdown” event was held in Carson, California, that was won by U.S. No. 1 Taylor Fritz over Wu Yibing in the final. Could this event slide into the Newport week? This event featured an experimental format (read more here https://www.uts.live/) which would be in the spirit of the Hall of Fame’s founder, Jimmy van Alen, who hosted several events at the Newport Casino with experimental formats, including tiebreaker matches (which were not implemented in official tennis until 1970) and matches where players had to serve from farther behind the baseline than normal.

Some have speculated that perhaps the Hall of Fame Championships could continue as a WTA event. The Newport Casino did host a women’s Virginia Slims event from 1971 to 1998 as you can read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Slims_of_Newport It could also continue as an ATP Challenger event, one rung below the ATP Tour level. If one analyzed some of the draws of past ATP editions of the Hall of Fame Championships have you would see that the fields were not unlike some Challenger level events, minus one or two higher-ranked players who likely accepted guarantees to play the event. In 2023, Alex Michelsen, with a ranking of No. 250, gained a main draw entry into the tournament, which is about as low as a ranking as one can remember receiving a direct entry into an ATP event and is more on par with a Challenger event. Despite the relatively weak field by ranking, the tournament in 2023 featured sold out crowds most of the week, which is indicative how popular this event was in Rhode Island and the New England area, regardless of the ranking quality of the field. A Challenger-level event would feature a similar-level field, minus a few top 40 or so ranked players.

More speculation has included a “senior” tennis event to replace the Hall of Fame Championships. The Newport Casino, in recent years, have hosted a separate senior event on the former Outback Champions Series tour, run by Jim Courier’s company InsideOut Sports & Entertainment. In 2008, it received added attention when John McEnroe was defaulted from his match, as documented here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RMnT_-AjRo. This was first held separately from the Hall of Fame Open as a stand-alone multiple-day event in August, but later was held in conjunction with the event as a four-player one-day event that was held before the Sunday singles final. However, this tour, most recently branded as the PowerShares Series, is on pause and not currently hosting any tournaments.

While the Hall of Fame decides on what type of event will replace its ATP tournament, the organization does look forward to many years of blockbuster Hall of Fame inductees, including likely first-ballot inductees such as Maria Sharapova and Bob and Mike Bryan in 2025, Roger Federer in 2027 (with perhaps Serena Williams, who has yet to officially announce her retirement technically, joining him) and then Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka to follow when they finally officially hang up their sneakers.

John McEnroe en route to being defaulted at the 2008 InsideOut Sports & Entertainment run Outback Champions Series “senior” tennis event played in August of 2008 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

Georgia Bulldog Commit Alex Michelsen Makes Easter Bowl History

April 4, 2022 by Admin

Alex Michelsen of Aliso Viejo, Calif., turned in a magnificent FILA Easter Bowl double this past weekend become the first player at the event since Donald Young in 2006 to win both the ITF singles and doubles titles at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

The 17-year-old high school junior and No. 8-seeded Michelsen, who is headed to the University of Georgia in 2023, played error-free tennis in beating one of the tournament’s hottest players in No. 2-seeded Nishesh Basavareddy of Carmel, Ind., on Sunday, 6-2, 6-3 for the singles title. On Saturday, Michelsen won the Boys’ ITF doubles title with a 10-6 third-set super tiebreaker win with partner and best friend Sebastian Gorzny.

“Donald Young, really? I guess I’m in pretty good company,” said the 6-foot-4 Michelsen afterwards. “If I played like that every time I would be very, very happy.”

Michelsen added: “Nothing went wrong out there at all. I served well, the forehand was good, backhand was good, drop shots were good. It was one of those days when everything came together. I needed it because Nishesh has been playing unreal lately. By far it was the best I played all week.”

In the Girls’ ITF singles final, another future Stanford Cardinal No. 4 Alexis Blokhina of Plantation, Fla., outlasted No. 3 Reese Brantmeier of Whitewater, Wisc., in a tight back-and-forth battle, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4).

With the victory, Michelsen punched his ticket to Paris next month as he needed to win Sunday for his ITF junior ranking to reach around No. 50 and qualify for the main draw of the Junior French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.

“I just sat by myself for an hour and a half during the girls’ match and was just shutting it out and getting ready for the match because I know how I needed the points, and the wild cards, and all of that,” Michelsen said. “I just came out firing.”

The win avenged a loss in the 10-and-unders in a SoCal junior event won by Basavareddy before he moved to Indiana at age 8. “I didn’t even think about that,” Michelsen said since yesterday. We’re 1-1 now.”

The loss snapped an ITF Grade J1 18-match winning streak for the Stanford-bound Basavareddy. “I definitely think I made more errors than normal, but he just put a lot of extra pressure on me and made me hit a lot of extra balls,” Basavareddy said.

“He was just really aggressive on the return and hitting it on the run,” Basavareddy said. “He definitely out-played me but I think one thing I could have done better was serve a little bit better. And been a little more aggressive on his serve. But he just really played good today.”

The win gave the TiER1 Performance Academy an unprecedented four USTA National gold ball winners on the boys’ side with Michelsen’s two, a 16s singles from Parashar Bharadwaj on Saturday and a 14s win in doubles from Gray Kelley.

Blokhina and Brantmeier had ups and downs in the competitive girls’ final.

“I’m really thrilled and happy I could capitalize on this moment,” said Blokhina, whose 15-year-old little brother Nathan warmed her up for the match.

It was the second career USTA Gold Ball for Blokhina, 17, who said she won her other one at the 14s Clay Courts.

A FILA-endorsed player since she was 14, Blokhina is coached by personal coach Marcus Fluitt and former Maria Sharapova Coach Michael Joyce when she’s with the USTA in Orlando.

Brantmeier, 17, overcame two match points down 15-40 4-5, with Blokhina mis-hitting a forehand long to force deuce as Brantmeier, serving big at 106 mph, closed out the game to knot the score at 5-all. “She earned those points and she played well,” Blokhina said.

Brantmeier opened the tiebreaker dumping an easy forehand return into the net and Blokhina stayed aggressive from there going up 4-1, and then 5-3 on a big serve and down-the-line winner forehand.

“I went up 6-3 and I had three points where I could swing a little bit more,” said Blokhina.

Both players are taking their official college visits on Monday with Blokhina headed to Palo Alto, and Brantmeier to Chapel Hill on the day the Tar Heels men’s basketball team plays Kansas for the NCAA title.

“I had a good week,” said Brantmeier, who will turn her focus to the USTA Pro Circuit events in the coming month. “Alexis just came up with some good shots when she needed them. My first serve percentage was really low and that hurt me. I came here to compete and get a lot of matches, and I did that.”