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Rising American star Alex Michelsen declared Novak Djokovic "the greatest of all time" and admitted he would absolutely love to play the Serb although he would likely end on the losing side. Michelsen, 19, is one of the most promising young American talents in the game.
This week, Michelsen made his debut at the Next Gen ATP Finals. As Michelsen - who made his first ATP final this past summer in Newport - is hoping to elevate his game to a new level, he would also like to test himself against record 24-time grand Slam champion Djokovic. "I'd love to play Novak, because he's the GOAT.
I would probably [not win], but good experience to play Novak," Michelsen said in a video for the Next Gen ATP Finals.
How Michelsen's Next Gen ATP Finals run went?
Although Michelsen was probably a favorite to make it past his group in Jeddah, he went winless in his Next Gen ATP Finals debut.
In his opening match in Jeddah, Michelsen suffered a tight five-set loss as Hamad Medjedovic edged out the American 4-2 4-3 (3) 3-4 (3) 3-4 (5) 4-3 (4). After losing to Medjedovic, Michelsen entered the Abdullah Shelbayh match in a must-win situation.
But Michelsen ended up losing again as the Jordanian beat the American 4-2 1-4 4-0 4-0. On Thursday, Michelsen completed his Next Gen ATP Finals run with another loss. This time, Michelsen was beaten by Luca van Assche as the Frenchman beat the American 4-3 (0) 3-4 (4) 3-4 (4) 4-1 4-3 (6).
In the fifth set, Michelsen lost his service in the fifth game but got the break back in the following game to force a tie-break. In the fifth-set tie-break, van Assche had two consecutive set points at 6-4 but Michelsen saved them to tie the tie-break to six points apiece. But Michelsen still ended up falling short as van Assche converted his third match point at 7-6 in the tie-break.