michelsens

[michelsens]

guys. im deceased. i present to you jack draper hinge catfish

[michelsens]

black hole, black hole, nothing’s gonna harm you

Incomplete and Insecure, The Avett Brothers; Indian Wells 2022, Tennis TV, Paul Ballard, Clive Brunskill; quote from Alex Michelsen on the AO Show; Same Old Song, The Lumineers; Miami Open 2025, my photo; Mr. Remington, The Lumineers; Geneva Open 2024, Tennis TV; Blackhole, Beck

[michelsens]

JADEEE ty for tagging me @jadewithaj

share your picrew and your last song <3

if u guys wanna do it you can, you don’t have to, but i will tag @alotterlife @sheltoner and @honeybun-zz and anybody else who wants to can say i tagged them!

[michelsens]

fly high taylor fritz wimbledon #4 seed, you were too good to be true…

[michelsens]

reblog to take the person you reblogged from to the aquarium

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈🦭≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

🐟 o ° .

• ° o 🦑

~~~~~🦀~~~~~~~~~~~~~🦐

[michelsens]

hihi :3

As an ardent fan of this blog and beloved mutual of yours, I believe I have a question that the one and only tumblr user michelsens can answer.

In early commiseration of whatever the fuck clay season was, and the dawn of the lovely, beautiful grass season I challenge you with the task of giving me the full Player Alex Michelsen Breakdown.

Consider it my full time request for you to hype up your boy and pitch him (shark tank stylez) to me as an enticing player to follow. Inclusion of his life/career history, commendable stats, important career points/progression, important rivalries, game style/approach/improvement, random facts about him that has nothing to do with tennis, implied narrative standings (a la great american men's tennis curse brought to you by Andy Roddick) and selective match analysis are very very welcomed. Enjoy <3

~Jay

Hi, Jay, and anyone else who wants to listen!

Long, long, long form yap ahead, be warned…

I feel I should start by pitching just his tennis (the good, bad, and the ugly)

Strengths:

As much as I call him mini Taylor, there are differences. A huge one being that he’s honestly very comfortable at net. For a baby giraffe on ice, he moves forward great. He volleys well, probably helped by his doubles play.

His serve can be lethal when it’s working. At times it does spray, but when it’s on, it’s a huge weapon. His first serve (not the absolute fastest, but placed very well- he doesn’t hit a million aces, but serves often go unreturned) is something he’s constantly trying to improve. His second serve is usually pretty great too. Second serve aces aren’t entirely uncommon, and having two or more in a match isn’t unheard of for him.

Do not hit to Alex Michelsen in the ad court. He will hit an inside out forehand winner and it will look ridiculous but you will not be able to get it. Or, the more likely thing (and probably what most people think of when they hear his name) is that he hits a backhand down the line winner.

When I tell you he will go backhand line from literally anywhere, and 90% of the time he makes it. Every match, comms feel the need to remind the audience that he’s “a natural lefty” but that “a lefty baseball swing is very similar to a righty backhand” and you can tell. The power and precision on his backhand is remarkable.

Weaknesses:

His side to side movement is very exploitable, which is relatively common among the lankier guys out there. This is a major aspect of his ineptitude on clay. Estoril feels like a timeline error. How’d he win that.

I hate to say this, but my boy is a bit of a choker. He will get broken serving for a match and he will get beaten after a first set bagel. It is a bit embarrassing.

This brings me to my last point, which is that his mentality could use a lot of work. The kid has the mindset of a 12 year old spelling bee contestant with generalized anxiety disorder crossed with Taylor Fritz. Which is to say. Not good. From behind? He’s fine. But the losses from ahead are both abundant and abundantly miserable.

Now, the delicious narratives…

I hope you know that I’m taking this to mean, “Ella, you amazing lady, would you please write me a detailed description of his whole tennis life with some tragedy mixed in?” And I respond, to this imagined request, with a “Yes, yes, of course!” And a tail wag.

Alex Michelsen started playing tennis when he was three years old- his backhand origin story is well known. He’s left handed in everything but tennis, even left footed. So he picked up a racket and swung it like a baseball bat and threatened to quit playing when his parents told him he should switch to hitting lefty. So he plays right.

He had a few idols. The usual suspects of course, Rafa, Roger, and especially Novak. He also watched Taylor Fritz and Gael Monfils. Plus, one Learner Tien, who apparently was the marvel of the Southern Californian junior tennis scene.

He came to the Tier1 Academy as a teenager, where he met his coach Eric Alexander Diaz, and finally began interacting with Learner (yippee!). This is the point in time when people started seeing that he was. Decent? He uses the word “good” in a very loose manner. Good, not great. Sometimes he even says he wasn’t good, or he never thought he would be. The fact is, he figured he’d go to college and see what happens.

He’s pretty good in the juniors. In 2022 he’s 17. He finally thinks maybe he’ll go pro one day. He’s runner up at the Australian Open doubles. He wins the Easter Bowl (essentially junior Indian Wells) in singles and doubles and qualifies for Wimbledon. He wins the Wimbledon doubles. He commits to the University of Georgia. He wins his first pro title (an ITF, doubles with Learner, and singles) in Michigan. He still has one more year until college. He thinks of himself as a kid.

It’s 2023. He grinds on the Challenger tour. Results? Mixed at best. He’s pretty much alone. Eric Diaz is still coaching him, now so is Jay Leavitt (also from Tier1), but he is away from friends, family, and the comforts of home. He plays the Chicago challenger completely by himself- the friend he was with loses early and leaves. He wins the tournament, the biggest of his career.

Newport was a last minute decision, but he made the right one. He plays it, makes the final, and loses it. Thats okay. No one expected him to win, he’s 18. He de-commits- maybe he can make it as a pro instead of a college player. He wins his first match at a major a few weeks later at the U.S. Open. He makes Next Gen finals (where he of course loses all three group stage matches).

2024. This was the year it all really gets good imo. He makes the third round at a slam for the first time at the Australian Open. He puts up a decent fight against Zverev. He beats De Minaur for his first top 10 win. He gets his first m1000 win against Munar at Indian Wells.

But then things go. Not great.

Clay season is pitiful. Demon murders him in the first round of RG- Alex wins three games. He loses early in his next four tournaments- one of which was a challenger. He loses first round at Wimbledon as well. From two sets to love up.

Then. The Summer of Washed Allegations Still! Alex!

Newport. He again loses in the final, this time after a championship point. Two weeks later he makes the doubles final in Cincinnati. The next week he loses in the final of Winston Salem. He wins a match at the U.S. Open before The Evil Unnamed Force kills him and his dad. That match also was pretty crazy at certain points!

The end of the season included wins against Tsitsipas and Hurkacz, a semifinal showing in Metz where he had a Just Like Dad moment, and another semifinal at Next Gen.

I know you started watching tennis at AO, so I’ll just leave it at that, with a few uhhh resources lol:

My Fav Alex Moments (shit he’s said lol)

Wimby 22 Jr Doubles Final

Newport 23 Semi (vs Isner)

AO 24 r2 (vs Lehecka)

Newport 24 Semi (vs Opelka)

Winston Salem QF (vs Eubanks)

USO 24 r1 (vs Spizzirri)

Metz 24 r1 (vs Gasquet)

AO 25 r1 (vs Tsitsipas)

[michelsens]

sorry about the alex loss! that’s blorbo-in-law 😔😔 he played great though. i was too far away for good pics but maybe i’ll get something good out of it when i edit them 💗

AWWWW you’re too sweet Lotte <3 in truth I didn’t really expect him to win, was just hoping for like. not a brutal demolition- and I got that! Saved a ton of match points, broken once per set. Not bad, especially to a top 10 player lol.

Also clearly I’m doing my job correctly if u adopted him as blorbo in law 🙏 I am always trying to spread the word abt my fool :)

[michelsens]

also maybe he’ll post pretty pictures for me to respectfully look at. classily.

[michelsens]

Oh wow he held his serve okay girl I see u :3 anyway he’s still winning Wimbledon idgaf <3

Hope Flavio or Meddy wins Halle, maybe rooting a bit more for Daniil (bc of curse breaking and also it looks better for Alex lol).

[michelsens]

It’s fine

[michelsens]

manifesting an alex win even tho i doubt it

[michelsens]

when i want to be cool and mysterious but instead i say the first thing that comes to mind like 90% of the time

[michelsens]

Grand Slam Personality Quiz for tennisblr to enjoy. Have fun!

[michelsens]

i just need 500 of my enemies to die

[michelsens]

[michelsens]

I have hope which is very dangerous