Michelsen upsets Tsitsipas, Kyrgios also out of Australian Open

Stefanos Tsitsipas was always expected to have his hands full in the first round of the Australian Open when the draw was revealed. And that is exactly what turned out to be the case.

Alex Michelsen, one of the most dangerous unseeded floaters in the field of 128, upset Tsitsipas 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in two hours and 43 minutes on Monday afternoon. The 20-year-old American called it one of the best performances of his career.

“Probably the only other time I have played that well was against (Alex) De Minaur in [Los Cabos] last year,” Michelsen commented. “I went in there and I never hit the ball cleaner in my whole life. I don’t think I played outrageously well (today) like I did against De Minaur, but I did play very well.

“I had a set game plan and I knew what I wanted to do. The plan was specific to Stef, but when you play that well, playing that aggressively, you think to yourself that I might try this more often. I feel if I’m playing like that, it would definitely work against a lot of the guys.”

Michelsen is joined in the second round by Novak Djokovic, but the 37-year-old Serb also needed four sets to advance. American wild card Nishesh Basavareddy took the first set before falling to the 10-time Aussie champion 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 59 minutes.

It was Djokovic’s first match with coach Andy Murray in his box.

“It’s all business now for us,” the 10-time Aussie Open champion said of his partnership with Murray. “I’m thrilled to have him in my corner. It was a little bit of a strange experience to have him courtside in my box…. We played against each other for over 20 years, and it’s great to have him on the same side of the net.

“He gave me some great advice mid-match. It’s really good we have the opportunity to exchange some feedback and get our coaches to tell us what they see. It’s been a great experience. Hopefully we don’t stop here.”

Whereas Djokovic seems to have a lot left in the tank, one player who does not is Nick Kyrgios. The 29-year-old Australian lost to Jake Fearnley 7-6(3), 6-3, 7-6(2) on Monday night and said “realistically” that it was probably his last-ever singles match at Melbourne Park.

Kyrgios, who is still struggling physically and missed basically all of 2023 and 2024, hit eight double-faults and won just 44 percent of his second-serve points.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.