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| Michael Russell© Mark Dadswell/Getty Images |
Birthdate: May 1, 1978
Birthplace: Detroit, Mich.
Residence: Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Height: 5’ 8”
Weight: 160 lbs.
Plays: Right-handed; two-handed backhand
The number 13 isn’t so unlucky for Michael Russell. Russell lived up to his top seeding last week at the Brownsville, Texas, Futures, where he notched an easy 6-2, 6-1 win over Brendan Evans in Sunday’s final to give the 27-year-old veteran his 13th career singles title on the USTA Pro Circuit. With the victory, Russell became the all-time leader in USTA Circuit singles wins, moving past the winningest player ever, Paul Goldstein, who has a total of 26 titles – 12 in singles and 14 in doubles.
Russell is coming off a successful year in 2005, in which he won singles championships at the Orlando Challenger and the Arlington Futures and captured the doubles title at the Tunica Resorts Challenger. He also finished runner-up in singles at the McAllen Futures, reached the semifinals at the Waco Futures, and advanced to quarterfinals at Challengers in Sacramento and Forest Hills, as well as the Harlingen Futures.
A 5-foot, 8-inch right-hander who turned pro in 1997, Russell became the first player ever to qualify for four Grand Slam events in succession – Wimbledon and the US Open in 2000 and the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 2001.
He is perhaps best known for his appearance at the 2001 French Open, in which he defeated former French Open champion Sergi Bruguera in the second round, Xavier Malisse in five sets in the third round, and then nearly pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Grand Slam history in his fourth-round match against top-seed and defending champion Gustavo Kuerten. Russell led two sets to love and had a match point at 5-3 in the third set, before falling in five sets to Kuerten, who eventually won the championship.
-- Sally Milano, USTA.com
RANKING HISTORY
2005 – 363 (ATP)
2004 – 250 (ATP)
2003 – 502 (ATP)
2002 – 159 (ATP)
2001 – 88 (ATP)
2000 – 156 (ATP)
1999 – 228 (ATP)
1998 – 288 (ATP)
1997 – 346 (ATP)
2006 HIGHLIGHTS
- Won the singles title at the USTA Futures event in Brownsville, Texas, defeating Brendan Evans, 6-2, 6-1, in the final… The victory gave Russell the all-time lead in singles titles on the USTA Pro Circuit with 13.
- Reached the quarterfinals at the Waikoloa Challenger... Retired in the second set of his match against Bobby Reynolds, with the score at 2-6, 1-1.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
2005
- As a qualifier, won the singles title at the Orlando Challenger, defeating Todd Widom, 6-4, 6-2, in the final.
- Qualified into the Nashville Challenger and reached the second round, before losing to Bobby Reynolds, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
- Advanced to the singles semifinals at the USTA Futures event in Waco, Texas, where he lost to Scott Oudsema, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
- As a qualifier, won the singles title at the USTA Futures event in Arlington, Texas... Defeated Benedikt Dorsch, 6-1, 6-3, in the final.
- Reached the singles quarterfinals at the Sacramento Challenger, where he lost to Phillip Simmonds, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
- Advanced to the singles quarterfinals at the Forest Hills Challenger... Retired in the second set in his match against Dusan Vemic, with the score at 1-6, 5-3.
- Won the doubles title (with Dusan Vemic) at the Tunica Resorts, Miss., Challenger.
- Finished runner-up in singles at the USTA Futures event in McAllen, Texas, losing to Todd Reid, 6-3, 6-0.
- Was a singles quarterfinalist at the USTA Futures event in Harlingen, Texas, falling to Ryan Newport, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.
2004
- Won his third straight singles title at the Granby Challenger in Canada, defeating Davide Sanguinetti, 6-3, 6-2, in the final.
- Won his second consecutive USTA Futures event in Pittsburgh, defeating Kean Feeder, 6-1, 6-0, in the final.
- Won the USTA Futures event in Buffalo, N.Y., defeating Jorge Aguilar, 6-3, 6-0, in the final.
- Captured the singles title at the ITF Futures event in Quebec, Canada.
- Reached the doubles final (with Robert Lindstedt) at the Ljubljana Challenger in Slovenia.
- Advanced to the semifinals at the Forest Hills Challenger, before falling to Edgardo Massa, 6-4, 6-1.
- Qualified into the USTA Challenger in Joplin, Mo., and advanced to the second round before falling to Yeu-Tzuoo Wang.
2003
- Was hampered by right knee problems most of the season, playing in only five tournaments through June… Underwent arthroscopic surgery in May and returned one month later at the Braunschweig Challenger in Germany, where he lost in the opening round... Pain persisted, and he was sidelined again.
- Qualified into the Heilbronn Challenger in Germany and advanced to the second round.
- In his only ATP appearance of the year, qualified into the main draw at Auckland and advanced to the second round, losing to eventual champion Gustavo Kuerten in three sets.
2002
- Advanced to the semifinals of the USTA Challenger in Burbank, Calif., where he lost to Robby Ginepri, 6-3, 6-4.
- Reached his second straight semifinal at the USTA Challenger in Tulsa, Okla… Lost to Daniel Melo, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
- Reached the doubles semifinals (with Diego Ayala) at the USTA Challenger in Tyler, Texas.
- Was a semifinalist at the USTA Challenger in Waco, Texas, falling to Jan Hernych, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
- Qualified into the ATP event in Washington and advanced to the second round, before losing to Thomas Enqvist, 7-6 (13), 6-0.
- Advanced to the round of 16 at Queen’s Club, where he fell to Wayne Arthurs, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
- Reached the quarterfinals at the Furth, Germany, Challenger and the Bermuda Challenger.
- Was a quarterfinalist at the USTA Challenger in Waikoloa, Hawaii.
2001
- Finished in the top 100 for the first time and improved his year-end ranking for the fifth straight year.
- Reached the quarterfinals at the USTA Challenger in Tyler, Texas.
- Advanced to the round of 16 at the Tokyo Outdoor, where he lost to Lleyton Hewitt, 6-1, 6-1.
- Reached the doubles semifinals (with Justin Gimelstob) at the ATP event in Shanghai.
- Qualified into Bastad and advanced to the second round before falling to Christophe Rochus.
- Had a career-best performance in a Grand Slam in his French Open debut, where, as a qualifier, he advanced to the fourth round… Defeated Nicolas Mahut in the first round, Sergi Bruguera in the second and Xavier Malisse in his first career five-set match in the third round, before facing No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten… Led by two sets and held match point at 5-3 in the third set, before losing, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-1… Became the first player to qualify for four different Grand Slam events in succession (2000 Wimbledon, US Open; 2001 Australian Open, Roland Garros).
- Advanced to consecutive ITF Circuit semifinals in Birmingham, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland.
- As a qualifier, advanced to the semifinals of the Bermuda Challenger.
- Finished runner-up at the USTA Challenger in Calabasas, Calif., where he fell to Andre Sa in three sets.
- Won both the singles and doubles (with Robert Kendrick) titles at the USTA Futures event in Mobile, Ala.
- Qualified into the Australian Open but dropped a four-set, opening-round decision to Andrei Pavel.
- As a qualifier, reached the second round at the ATP event in Auckland, New Zealand.
2000
- Reached quarterfinals at the USTA Challengers in Knoxville, Tenn., and Urbana, Ill… Also reached the doubles final (with Noam Behr) in Urbana.
- Finished runner-up to Andy Roddick at the USTA Challenger in Austin, Texas.
- Qualified into the US Open but lost in the first round to Hernan Gumy of Argentina, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (1), 6-4.
- Was named a practice partner for the U.S. Davis Cup team for its semifinal against Spain.
- Qualified into the Wimbledon main draw but lost in the first round to Sebastien Lareau.
- Won the doubles title (with Tommy Robredo) at the Edinburgh, Scotland, Challenger.
- Won his first ATP match on his 22nd birthday, defeating Hugo Armando, 6-4, 6-2, in the first round of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Orlando, Fla… Lost in the second round to Gianlucca Pozzi.
- Won the USTA Challenger in Amarillo, Texas, defeating Stefano Pescosolido in the final.
- Advanced to consecutive semifinals at the USTA Futures events in Altamonte Springs, Fla., and Boca Raton, Fla.
1999
- Qualified into the Guadalajara Challenger in Mexico and advanced to the quarterfinals.
- Advanced to the doubles semifinals (with Mark Nielsen) at the Winnetka, Ill., Challenger.
- Was a semifinalist at the Granby Challenger in Canada.
- Won USTA Futures events in Vero Beach, Fla., and Weston, Fla… Also reached the doubles final (with Diego Ayala) in Weston.
- Reached the doubles semifinals (with Andrew Painter) at the USTA Futures event in Boca Raton, Fla.
- Reached the semifinals at the Tallahassee, Fla., Futures.
1998
- Made his debut at the US Open as a wild-card entrant, losing in the first round to Giorgio Galimberti.
- Advanced to the semifinals at the Aptos, Calif., Challenger.
- Reached the singles and doubles final (with Jan-Ralph Brandt) at the Montreal, Canada, Futures.
- Finished runner-up in doubles (with Jocelyn Robichaud) at the ITF Futures event in Mississauga, Canada.
- Was a doubles finalist (with Jocelyn Robichaud) at the USTA Futures event in Tallahassee, Fla.
- Reached the singles semifinals and the doubles quarterfinals (with Kevin Kim) at the Boca Raton, Fla., Futures.
- Advanced to the doubles semifinals (with Kevin Kim) and the singles quarterfinals at the USTA Futures event in Vero Beach, Fla.
- Won the singles title at the USTA Satellite in Mobile, Ala.
- Qualified for the Canadian Open, but fell to fellow Michigan native Todd Martin in the first round.
1997
- Won USTA Satellite Circuit events in Waco, Texas, Springfield, Mo., and St. Joseph, Mo.
1995
- Debuted on the ATP Tour singles rankings at No. 1,282 after finishing in a tie for 24th at the 1995 USTA satellite segment No. 6 in California.
COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS
- Played one season (1996-97) at the University of Miami... Finished No. 7 in the collegiate rankings – tops among freshman – before turning pro in the summer of 1997.
- Earned All-American honors… His 39 singles match wins were a school record.
- Became the first freshman since Joey Blake of Arkansas in 1986 to win the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, defeating Middle Tennessee State’s Fred Niemeyer, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, in the final.
- Finished the fall season with a 17-1 match record.
JUNIOR HIGHLIGHTS
1996
- Reached the singles semifinals at the 1996 USTA National Boys’ 18 Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., losing to doubles partner Kevin Kim… Lost in the doubles final (with Kim) to Bob and Mike Bryan.
- Advanced to the singles final at the 1996 USTA National Boys’ 18 Clay Court Championships, losing to Bob Bryan.
- Was a doubles quarterfinalist (with Kim) at the 1996 Wimbledon junior championships… Lost in the second round of singles to Bob Bryan in a re-match of the Easter Bowl final.
- Won the 1996 Easter Bowl boys’ 18 championships, defeating Bob Bryan in the final.
- Reached the singles semifinals at the 1996 Banana Bowl in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- Won the doubles title (with Kim) at the 1996 Asuncion Bowl in Asuncion, Paraguay.
- Reached the round of 16 at the 1996 Australian Open Junior Championships.
1995
- Reached the singles semifinals at the 1995 USTA National Boys’ 18 Championships... Defeated Ryan Wolters for third place.
- Won the singles title at the 1995 USTA National Boys’ 18 Clay Court Championships, defeating Kevin Kim in the final...
- Reached the doubles final (with Geoff Abrams).
- Reached the semifinals at the 1995 Easter Bowl boys' 18 championships, losing to Kim.
- Reached the second round in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles (with Kim) at the 1995 Australian Open Junior Championships.
1994
- Finished 1994 ranked No. 1 in singles and doubles in the USTA boys' 16 rankings (ranked in doubles with Geoff Abrams).
- Made his debut in a junior Grand Slam, upsetting No. 6 seed Paul Goldstein in the first round of the 1994 US Open junior boys' singles championships… Lost in the second round.
- Won the 1994 USTA National Boys' 16 Championships, defeating Kevin Kim in the final... Won the doubles title with Geoff Abrams.
- Was a finalist at the 1994 USTA National Boys' 16 Clay Court Championships, losing to Kevin Kim.
- Won the 1994 Easter Bowl Boys' 16s Championships, defeating Kevin Kim in the final.
1993
- Won the 1993 USTA National Boys' 16 Indoor Doubles Championship (with Kevin Kim).
1991
- Reached the final of the 1991 USTA National Boys' 14 Indoor Championships… Lost to Rafael Jordan.
PERSONAL
- Father, George, is manager of the ATP Tennis Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, where Mike practices. He was a member of the University of Michigan's Big 10 Conference 1965 championship team. Mother, Carole, is an English teacher and tennis coach at Episcopal High School in Jacksonville, Fla. Older brother David, played tennis at Princeton and attended Harvard Business School.
- Began playing tennis at age five with his father.
- Full name is Michael Craig Russell.
- Grew up in Michigan and graduated as valedictorian at Saddlebrook (Fla.) High School in spring 1995.
- Favorite playing surface is clay.
- Nicknames include "Mighty Mouse," "Spanky" and "Iron Mike."
- Is considered one of the wittiest players on tour.