MELBOURNE, Australia — Stefanos Tsitsipas twice smashed his racket onto his bag as he exited the Australian Open in the first round against young American Alex Michelsen.
Tsitsipas, who is enduring a miserable run of Grand Slam form, followed his first-round U.S. Open exit and second-round defeat at Wimbledon with another early departure here.
His frustration was painfully evident. Having lost the first two sets, Tsitsipas, 26, claimed the third set, only to immediately lose his serve at the start of the fourth. At the change of ends, Tsitsipas angrily gestured towards his box and twice smashed his racket onto his racket bag. Still seething, he horribly miscued a backhand on the first point of the next game.
Tsitsipas’s devastation is one part of this story, but the other is how impressively Michelsen, a 20-year-old Californian ranked No. 42 after a breakthrough 2024, ultimately held his nerve to come through 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Beating the 11th seed and former finalist here is Michelsen’s most notable victory in his young career — and one that was essentially against a home crowd, given the support Tsitsipas always receives from the sizeable Greek population in Melbourne.
In the first two sets, Michelsen played solidly and pinned Tsitsipas in backhand-to-backhand exchanges. Tsitsipas hit 16 forced errors on that wing, compared to just two for Michelsen. The American was also volleying effectively, winning 13/15 net points compared to 8/15 for Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas got back on top in the third set, taking advantage of a drop in Michelsen’s level — the American hit 14 unforced errors in the set, compared to just six for Tsistipas.
Michelsen reset immediately to pinch the early break in the fourth, before the pair exchanged breaks for 4-3. Michelsen showed his outstanding athleticism in securing the break by hitting an outrageous backhand pass down the line for 0-40. There was then another exchange of breaks, as Michelsen served terribly but then produced a brilliant drop shot and forehand return winner to help get himself back in front.
He was then able to serve out for a potentially landmark victory, setting up a second-round match against either the Australian wildcard James McCabe or the Spanish qualifier Martin Landaluce.
For Tsitsipas, it’s another major setback for a player who’s endured a pretty miserable period since reaching the French Open quarterfinals in June, where Carlos Alcaraz thumped him. His breakout run to the semifinals here in 2019 feels an awfully long time ago now.
‘A live action illustration of the shift in men’s tennis’
Analysis from James Hansen, senior editor for tennis
When the Australian Open draw came out, this felt so much like an upset-in-waiting that the result barely feels like an upset at all.
While Michelsen at times looked like a nervous underdog, particularly in some tight moments in the fourth set when he sprayed balls long from promising positions, most of the match was an illustration of the gap opening up between the two generations these players occupy.
Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev have spent large parts of 2024 bemoaning the way in which Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have redefined tennis. Michelsen is not on the level of those two players, but he is from the same generation. He also shares their comfort in the forecourt and their ability to use slice and vary the pace of the ball.
In this specific matchup, Michelsen’s ability to hit down-the-line and cross-court on his backhand from almost any position prevented Tsitsipas from using his favorite tactic. He knows his one-handed backhand can hamper him, so tends to try and hit an inside-out forehand (a forehand from the ad-court) as early as he can in a rally. To do this, he shuffles to his left, but this leaves him open to being attacked if his opponent can hit a backhand into that space. Michelsen can do that.
Tsitsipas could neutralize that problem with a slice, or a short ball, but he isn’t comfortable playing those kinds of shots. As a result, he found himself caught in a tactical fight he could not win.
(Graham Denholm / Getty Images)
