Michael Russell

Full name is Michael Craig Russell...Nicknames include "Mussell," "Wheels" and "Iron Mike"...Began playing tennis at age five with his father, George, a member of Univ. of Michigan's Big 10 Conference championship team in 1965...Mother, Carole, attended Univ. of Michigan and is an English teacher....Older brother David, played collegiately at Princeton and attended Harvard Business School...Grew up in Michigan and graduated as Valedictorian at Saddlebrook (Fla.) High School in spring 1995...Ranked #1 in U.S. Boys' 18-Under in 1996...Named NCAA Rookie of the Year and finished No. 7 in collegiate rankings at University of Miami before turning pro in 1998...Favorite food is sushi and Mexican, enjoys working out and favorite place to visit is Hawaii...Considers clay his favorite surface...Wife, Lilly (married Nov. 10, 2007).

1997 -- Earned first points as a pro at Indian Wells Challenger and Satellites at USA #3 (37 points) and USA #4 (48 points)...

1998 -- Had good results on Challenger circuit, reaching SF in Aptos and advanced to Futures final at Canada F2...Made ATP debut at TMS Montreal (l. to T. Martin) and made Grand Slam debut three weeks later at US Open (l. to Galimberti)...

1999 -- Won first Futures title at USA F4 (d. Labadze) in May...Two weeks later, won second title at USA F6 (d. Armando) without dropping a set...Best Challenger result came with a QF at Guadalajara (l. to F. Costa)...

2000 -- Began season in January by reaching consecutive Futures SFs in Orlando and Boca Raton before winning first Challenger title later in month at Amarillo (d. Pescosolido)...In October, reached final at Austin Challenger (l. to Roddick)...

2001 -- Finished in Top 100 for first time and improved his year-end ranking for fifth straight year...In March, won third Futures title of career at USA F7 in Mobile (d. Verkerk) followed by run to final at Calabasas Challenger in next tournament (l. to Sa)...On clay, reached SF at Challenger events in Bermuda, Birmingham and Edinburgh...Made dramatic Roland Garros debut after qualifying, defeating Mahut in 1st RD, Bruguera in 2nd RD and Malisse in first career five-set match in 3rd RD before facing No. 1 Kuerten...Led by two sets and held match point at 5-3 in third set before losing 36 46 76(7) 63 61 to eventual champion...Became first player to qualify in four different Grand Slam events in succession (2000 Wimbledon, US Open; 2001 Aust. Open, Roland Garros)...Finished season with QF showing at Tyler Challenger...In doubles, reached SF in Shanghai (w/Gimelstob) and won Futures event at USA F7 in Mobile (w/Kendrick)...

2002 -- Enjoyed most of his success in Challenger play, compiling a 15-10 match record...Struggled in ATP play (5-15) with his best result coming on grass at Queen's where he advanced to 3rd RD with wins over Bachelot and Enqvist before losing to Arthurs in three sets...In Challenger action, reached SF in three of four tournaments within a one month span, in Waco, Tulsa and Burbank...Also a QF in Waikoloa, Bermuda and Furth...

2003 -- Hampered by right knee problems most of season, playing in only five tournaments through June...In lone ATP appearance, qualified into main draw and reached 2nd RD in Auckland, losing to eventual champion Kuerten in three sets...In Challengers, advanced to 2nd RD in Heilbronn and Wroclaw...Underwent arthrscopic right knee surgery in Florida on May 15 and returned one month later at Braunschweig Challenger, losing in 1st RD...Pain persisted and was sidelined again...

2004 -- Played entire year on Futures (15-1 record) and Challenger (11-7) level, winning three straight Futures titles at Montreal, Buffalo and Pittsburgh and at Granby Challenger (d. Sanguinetti)...Also a SF at Forest Hills Challenger (l. to Massa)...

2005 -- Played full season again on Futures (14-3 mark) and Challenger (12-8) circuits, winning title at Arlington, Texas Futures, reaching final at McAllen, Texas Futures, and winning title at Orlando Challenger (d. Widom) to finish year...Also a QF at Forest Hills and Sacramento Challengers...

2006 -- Improved his ATP Ranking by over 200 positions by putting together a 24-15 record in Challenger play... Won titles at Bronx (d. Capdeville) and Maui (d. Warburg) while reaching final at Tulsa (l. to Reynolds) and SF in Atlanta and Champaign...Early in season, won Brownsville, Texas Futures title...

2007 -- Compiled his best season and finished in Top 100 for first time since 2001...Won a personal-high 10 ATP level matches and put together an impressive 19-2 mark in Challenger play with three titles...In first two months, won titles at Noumea, New Caledonia (d. Guez), Waikoloa, Hawaii (d. J. Baker) and Joplin, Missouri (d. Niemeyer)...Qualified into Australian Open and took top Aussie Hewitt to five sets in opening round (after winning first two sets)...Best ATP result came at ATP Masters Series Indian Wells where he advanced to 4th RD with wins over Gicquel, No. 12 Berdych and Garcia-Lopez before losing to Chela...On clay, reached 2nd RD in Houston, Casablanca and Poertschach...Then lost five straight 1st RD matches before getting to 3rd RD in Washington (l. to Haas)...Followed with 2nd RD efforts at AMS Montreal (d. Almagro, l. to Haas) and New Haven (d. Garcia-Lopez, l. to Karlovic)...Fell to No. 6 Blake in 1st RD at US Open...In October, reached 3rd RD in Tokyo and QF at Sacramento and Louisville Challengers...Compiled records of 7-11 on hard, 3-5 on clay and 0-3 on grass...Earned a career-high $260,890.

2008 -- Compiled a 13-11 record in Challenger play, reached SF at Sacramento and Nashville and QF in Calabasas and Knoxville…Went 3-5 in ATP World Tour play, all in first two months of season…

2009

The oldest American in year-end Top 100 for second time in three years…Successful Challenger campaign with a 42-15 record as well as winning three titles in six finals…Played sparingly on ATP World Tour (2-4) with both wins coming in March at back-to-back ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells (d. Garcia-Lopez, l. to Tursunov) and Miami (d. Hanescu, l. to Monfils)…Began season with runner-up at Salinas Challenger (l. to Giraldo) and following month won Futures title in Texas…In May won title at Savannah Challenger (d. Kuznetsov) and later in month picked up another title in Carson-2 (d. Yani)…In September, reached final at Alphen aan den Rijn (l. to Robert) and next month was runner-up at Calabasas (l. to Young)… Closed season with his third title in Champaign (d. Dent).