I played a good match last night against Andreev.  Igor started the match serving exceptional.  He served 73% and every first serve was in the 130 mph range.  He broke me once in a tight game and that was all he needed.  Andreev has one of the heaviest forehands in the game, and his ball was jumping very high in the daylight. 

As the sun went down the conditions started to slow down a little bit and I was able to capitalize on one break of serve in the second set.  That gave me a lot of confidence and I was able to ride the momentum in the third set.  His first serve percentage dropped in the third set and I played very solid from the baseline winning the third set 6-2. 

Today has been a rest day, I practiced early on stadium to get used to the surroundings and have spent the remainder of the day finishing some school work   I will write after my match tomorrow with details of the Murray match. 

Talk to you soon and thanks again for the support.

Michael

Well I played another night match this year.  In Indian Wells, at night the conditions are completely different than during the day since the temperature when we stepped on court was 55 degrees!  The balls and the playing conditions are much slower, even though the desert here is elevated a little bit.  I played solid in my match, Lorenzi has great defensive skills and I did a good job of finishing some points at the net. 

I am happy with my first round performance because the first match in a tournament is always difficult.  Following the match, I was drug tested at 10 30pm!  It doesn’t happen to often that you win a match and get drug tested, but it is good to see that they are increasing their random tests on players and ensuring that our sport is clean.  I have a day off now, to rest up and practice and get ready for Sunday’s match. 

Thanks for the support and check back in for my next blog.

Michael

  John Schaeffer  Key Largo, Florida writes: 

 I consider myself a friend of Michael and would like to help in any way.  However, I am leery of writing  something (like a match review) that a pro tennis player might find irrelevant or “off the mark”. Michael  put a lot of effort into the match and was quite disappointed with the result. I would hate to  misrepresent/misinterpret his effort.

 Anyway, here goes:

 Michael Russell’s first round match against Mischa Zverev at Delray was a seesaw three-setter      producing spotty play by both competitors. The first set opened with Zverev establishing a defensive  posture, which he maintained throughout the match, playing 10 feet behind the baseline, and hitting  low slice backhands. Meanwhile, Russell had difficulty finding the center of his own racquet and shanked numerous backhands early. When he did find his strings after being broken during his second service game, Russell seemed perplexed by them, hitting a number of balls long. According to reports, Russell sent several frames to the tournament stringer for a change.

Midway through the first set, the clouds disappeared and Zverev, coming off the European indoor season and being run hard, looked like he might have trouble in the Florida heat.

After dropping the first set, Russell found his reliable, aggressive baseline game and took control of the match. Meanwhile, Zverev’s serve totally “went-off”, producing three double faults in one game. Russell handily won the second set and seemed in control of the match.

This led me to move over one court to watch the Bryan brothers practice with Jay Berger and a good, unknown (to me) and young US player all while looking through the stands to keep an eye on Russell-Zverev. Noticing that Russell was down a break at 1-3, I returned to Court 1 to watch him regain control of the play and win four straight games.

Serving at 5-3, Russell hit (what he felt was) a first serve ace which was called “out”. He stood stunned then broke into a chuckle and tried to refocus. From that point, everything unraveled for Russell. He lost four straight games and the third set by a score of 7-5. Those last four games featured some good play by Zverev and some bad breaks for Russell—he missed several easy shots. However, it seemed that Russell would retained control and, knowing his mental toughness, would never lose the match.

I did not review the match statistics but don’t recall Zverev even attempting to hit winners. He played a relentlessly defensive game that required his opponent to take charge—something that Russell did successfully. Zverev’s best break of the day was cloud cover, which returned midway through the second set. Without it, he would not have been able to stay in this match.

The stands remained full of spectators during the match. I heard numerous comments on Russell’s grittiness.

Having dictated play and been in a position to serve for the match (and being on a year-long roll), Russell was obviously disappointed with the result.

Michael has been on the road since early January and the return home to Houston (and his lovely wife) should help prepare him for the upcoming stretch of important tournaments –Indian Wells and Miami. I think that this match was a “bump in the road” and that Michael Russell will extend his impressive year-long run.

I’ve been a fan of yours ever since I saw you at the US Open quallies last year. You’re an awesome player, and you’re having an AWESOME comeback! Keep up the good tennis!

Mark Peterson writes:

Hey, Michael. Caught you last year playing at Indian Wells on a side court against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez I believe it was. Also saw you a few years ago where I used to be a member at the Claremont Club, Claremont, CA, at one of their Satellite or Challengers. Enjoy watching the effort you put into each match. I follow you and Robert Kendrick weekly. You are doing much better than he over the past year. congratulations on your current 66 rank and keep up the hard work! see you in Indian Wells in a couple weeks. If you read this I will say hi at the tourney if I am there when you are playing. Mark, a 4.5 level player now residing in Broomfield, CO.

Barry Horowitz writes:

An amazing inspiration! He reminds me of the tenacity of Jimmy Connors and the ability of Michael Chang. He is deserving of his place in the sun! It is an injustice Michael has not been given the support and exposure by the USTA. The younger “giants” playing the game today have a serve and that is about it. This guy is a true athlete and all around excellent tennis player – all at 31!

Dustin Petzold writes:

Michael, you have been playing some inspired tennis. Keep it up!

Freddie Jones writes:

The boys from Detroit are behind you 100% …BV and FREDDIE JONES follow you everyday…we laugh how you can hit a backhand when you were 14,  you would do 100 pushups if you missed!!! only spanky Russell would do this when he was a kid.

Obsessive Compulsive Tennis writes:

Mr. Russell you are definitely on a roll now. I think you showed a lot in the match against Delpo and Berdych. I kind of get the feeling that you are capable of a huge upset this season.

Benoit Herve writes:

Berdych was “on” that day, so you played very well.  If you can beat everybody else,  who is not in the top 20 its great.   For those who watched you, again there you really played well and berdych needed to play his best to beat you.  Cheers and all the best for next tournament Michael.
My Hero )

Ervin Domeny writes:

Dear Michael!
Accept my best regards from the Czech Republic. I wish you a great success, good luck and good health in your tennis career as well as in your private life. I congratulate you of your sport gains and hope that you will succeed in your life.  Allow me to approach you about the following matter:  I am a passionate sports fan that is interested in all what is connected with sports. I like best tennis. I collect photos with the autographs of the famous professional athletes.  I also hold you among them.  Would you please send me your photo with the autograph that would enrich my collection. I would you very-very pleased with it.
Thanking you in advance and hoping to get your positive answer. With best wishes, your great fan Ervin.

Jason writes:

Hi Michael. My family and I have seen you play a few times at the Rogers Cup and US Open. You are a fun player to watch since you give 110% on each and every point. We always attend the Rogers Cup in Montreal and Toronto and hope to see you there again this summer. Best of luck this year and hope to see you break the top 50 soon.

Hi. I’m bill roehrich and I want to ask Michael the following question:
just wanted to say i have seen you in a couple of matches up here in the sacramento area and you seem to be a truly good person.. always nice to the ballkids, respectful and i for one think that is great… thank you …  question is what kind of strings do you use??  best of luck!!!!

A: Thank you for the kind words.  I always try to treat the ball kids with respect as they are volunteering to help the players.  I really enjoy playing in the Sacramento area and glad that you were able to watch me play, hopefully I played well.  As far as string, I use Luxilon Big Banger ALU Power 1.25mm.  I have used this string for almost 10 years.  I have tried others, but I always seem to come back to this one.  I hope all is well in California and thank you for the support.

Greg Labanowski ask:

Q:  Michael, how do you walk onto a big court in tennis (Rod Laver Arena, Ashe, etc) and not get distracted by the fans and all of the noises to where you give away the first few games in the set until you get settled?

A:  Thanks for your question Greg.  I make sure that I have a very good warm-up before I walk on to the court.  That includes a 30 – 45 minute hit session earlier in the day, and also a light run right before I walk on the court.  It is normal to be nervous in the beginning of a match, so regular deep breaths and positive mental reinforcement help to relax me when I walk on the court.  I also love to play in front of a crowd because that is what entertainers do, so it is the pinnacle of being a professional tennis player.  Hope this helps, thank you for your support

Q:  Was your win against Wayne Odesnik last Monday your biggest comeback of your career, down a break 0-6,5-3?

A:  My comeback against Wayne Odesnik was one of my best, but at the 2001 French Open Qualifying in the first round I was down 6-4,5-4 match point and my opponent had volley on top of the net.  Somehow I managed to win the match, and the rest is history.  I went on to qualify for the French Open and make the 4th round where I held match point against #1 in the world Gustavo Kuerten before losing in 5 sets.

Glenn Steinberg ask:

Q:  Michael were you the player mentioned in Agassi’s book: It says that in ‘97 Brad was looking for a “sparring partner” for Agassi while he was in North Carolina and then it goes on to say that you blew out your shoulder as a result.   Was that you?
I also saw you play back at Country Day.  Great to see that you’re still playing and playing well after all those unfortunate injuries.

A:  Glenn,  you are right!!  That was me, not sure why Andre didn’t put my name in the book, but I fractured my arm while practicing with him in 1997. That is great you remember me from Detroit Country Day, I have a lot of nice memories from high school and really enjoyed my time there. I hope you are doing well and thanks for your question and support

Fifth seed Berdych is through to his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season, following a semi-final showing at the Brisbane International (l. to Roddick) and a quarter-final effort at last week’s SAP Open, where he also lost to Andy Roddick. The Czech player, who has defeated two Americans to reach the last eight, is making his debut in Memphis.

Berdych next will face Latvian Ernests Gulbis, who upset third seed Radek Stepanek in the second round yesterday.

Michael Russell who’s nickname is “Iron Mike” had to dig down deep to pull out a tough win last night against fellow American wild card Wayne Odesnik.  The 31 year old from Houston Texas, who’s currently ranked no.68 in he world is poised to move into the top echelon of men’s tennis this year.  ”My goal to break into the top 50 by the end of the year” said Russell.  Michael jumped up 10 spots from last week, where he made to the quarter-finals of an ATP event for the first time in his career at the SAP Open in San Jose, CA.

It was a tough going for “Iron Mike” losing the first set 6-0.  ” I had a tough match on my hand last night, Wayne was playing incredibly well” said Russell.  In the second set, Wayne squandered a break chance opportunity.  Michael just kept fighting and won the second set 7-5.  ” I kept fighting for every point and focus on winning one point at a time” said Russell.

In the third set, Michael started playing well by being more aggressive.  The final score was 0-6,7-5,6-4, ” It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish ” said Russell and ” Even though I did not play my best tennis, I hung in there and gave myself a chance to win” said Russell.  

Michael will now face the no.5 seed Tomas Berdych (CZE) on Wednesday, check out Michael’s new Blog and Michael Russell Foundation under charity.