Alex Michelsen on finding his way
The 21-year-old American reflects on his biggest wins, returning from injury and the strange reality of trying to beat your best friend.
Alex Michelsen has developed a habit of pulling off big wins on hard courts.
The 21-year-old American holds victories on the surface over Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti—all players who have spent time inside the ATP’s top 10—and arrived in Washington this week fresh off a Challenger title after returning from an oblique injury that disrupted his grass-court season.
Ahead of the Mubadala DC Open, I caught up with Michelsen to talk about his recovery, his friendship with Learner Tien and what he’s learned from playing some of the best players in the world. I found one answer particularly interesting.
When I mentioned his win over Taylor Fritz at Indian Wells, Michelsen challenged what feels like a pretty intuitive assumption: that practicing together benefits the higher-ranked player.
“Fritz, it’s trickier, I think, for him because he’s better than me, and we practice together,” Michelsen said. “Usually, when you practice with someone and you play them in a match, it favors the one that is a little worse because you kind of know what’s coming a bit.”
Rather than seeing familiarity as an advantage for the top player, Michelsen believes it can actually help close the gap. You know their favorite patterns, you recognize their tendencies and, perhaps most importantly, they lose some of the unpredictability that makes elite players so difficult to face.
But Michelsen was careful not to overstate the point.
“I got a little lucky there,” Michelsen added. “I saved a crazy set point. I remember I got lucky to win that set.”
His explanation for his other marquee wins was similarly matter-of-fact.
Keep reading for Michelsen's candid thoughts on beating top players, playing his way back into form on the Challenger Tour and sharing life on tour with his buddy Learner Tien.
