Today’s match up between Michael Russell vs John Isner is set up to be an exciting one, you have a big serve and volleyer going against a great baseliner.  This is a classic match up both mentally and physically, it will come down to who can dictate the tempo of the match.   This will be their second meeting with Isner having a 2-0 lead in this series. 

Their first meeting was in 2005  Lubbock Challenger in Texas, Isner defeated Russell 6-4,7-5.  Their second meeting was last year at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston, Texas in Round of 32 Isner defeated Russell in a 3 setter 4-6,6-3,6-2.

Order of Play: Friday  March 26, 2010

Michael Russell (USA) vs [17] John Isner (USA) Court#1, 4th Match On.

Murray Pulls Through against Russell

World No. 4 Andy Murray overcame a determined effort from Michael Russell at the BNP Paribas Open, defeating the American 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday afternoon to reach the fourth round at the year’s first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament.

Murray, a runner-up last year in Indian Wells, won five straight games to establish a 3-0 lead in the second set. After working hard to hold his service games throughout the set, Murray was finally broken as he served for the match at 5-3 with Russell showing tremendous hustle in two crowd-pleasing rallies.

“I don’t think I lost my concentration necessarily on the game when I got broken, but he had break point,” said Murray. “He had a great backhand when I got on with the dropshot lob, ran back, and it was a really good move. I hit another really tough shot. I would have liked to have won, closed it out there 3 and 3, but I did well to stay composed at the end.”

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Russell could not earn a decisive set, however, as Murray came through with a match-clinching break as the American put a return into the net.

“It was a tough match, a lot of long rallies,” said Murray. “The thing that was good about that match is a lot of long, tough games. My serve, when I was down, I played well. I saved a lot of break points and played well on a lot of 30-all points.”

The 22-year-old Scot, who opened the 2010 season with a runner-up finish at the Australian Open, will next face the winner between Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and American James Blake. Almagro and Blake face off on Stadium 2 later in the day.

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

“We think Michael is an unbelievable competitor and really embodies the spirit of the Tourna Grip brand,” says Mike Niksich, VP of Unique Sports. Michael joins fellow Americans James Blake, Pete Sampras, John Isner, Sam Querry, and the Bryan Brothers, as official endorsers of Tourna Grip.

  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.

From the desk of Deryck Cheney & Sean Doran, ATP experts and player analyst of ATP tennis pros.

Player: Michael Russell

Current World Ranking: 68

Player Stock Rating:

Summary: Michael Russell is currently ranked 68 in the world and is now the 5^th ranked American tennis player in the world.  Russell’s 2010 season has shown significant promise and he is playing the best tennis of his life, recently reaching the quarterfinals of the SAP Open in San Jose.  At the Australian Open, Russell’s match, a tight four set battle, against the reigning US Open champion and fifth ranked player in the world, Juan Martin Del Potro.  This was a premier match on primetime and was featured on the worldwide broadcasting feed seen by over 100 million viewers.  Immediately following the Australian Open, Russell won the next ATP event he entered in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Based upon his strong start to the 2010 season, as well as our projections for the remainder of the year, we are initiating a “buy rating” on Michael Russell for all potential investors of his brand.

Future Outlook: Based upon Russell’s current level of play, we are projecting that he will defend his ATP points this spring and maintain his current ranking heading into the summer season.  Russell’s best surface is clay, as evidenced by his 4^th round appearance at the French Open where he nearly defeated eventual champion Gustavo Kuerten.  Based upon these projections, this will position Russell to be in a strong position leading into Wimbledon with no additional points to defend through the summer hard court season in North America.  He has tremendous upside potential at this juncture, with a very realistic possibility of entering the top 50 leading into the premier Grand Slam, The US Open, in late August.   We are projecting that he will be one of the top five ranked Americans, which will position him for prime International television exposure.

See below for his rankings trajectory since late 2008, during which time he has moved up the rankings quicker than any other ATP pro.  We do not see any reason why his path will flatten out and feel confident that the time is now to buy the Michael Russell brand.

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.