Michael Russell's Charlottesville Title Mimics Career

Michael Russell at 35 years young has found a way to win the 75k challenger in Charlottesville this week. By virtue of the points he's up to 76, good for the #3 ranked American in the world right now. Who would have thought Russell would be the third ranked American at 35? That is nuts. And don't look now, but with Querrey shutting it down for the year due to injury the US will have to think long and hard about who might be the #2 singles player behind Isner in the next Davis Cup tie. The rumor is they might pick clay against England, and if they do, Russell may not be a bad choice. Anyway, back to Charlottesville... Russell found a way to win the title despite not playing anywhere close to his best tennis.

After an impressive 6-3, 6-2 dismantling of John Patrick Smith in round 1, he mostly relied on Tennys Sandgren breaking down physically in round 2 for a 6-4, 6-2 win. In the quarters, Russell stumbled to a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Jarmere Jenkins. It was very sloppy and ugly from both sides, with a really poor serving performance in particular. In the semis, he was fortunate to face an injured player in Jesse Levine and was handed a retirement win after just 10 games. In the finals, after a good first set over Polansky (7-5) he lost the second 6-2 and was down 5-0 in the third. Yes, you read that correctly. Then, he was down 5-2 in the 3rd set tiebreak before reeling off 5 straight points and winning the match and title. If you look at this week, in no way would you say Russell played his best tennis throughout. Not even close. But that's just Russell. His fitness helped him outlast much younger guys in three of those matches, and he was just solid enough to handle his business. That, and he showed what I wish more American players could tap into: the ability to dig deep. You're not always going to play your best, and Russell spent a lot of this week struggling with his game. But instead of losing his mind like a couple of other guys this week (Rhyne Williams and Donald Young come to mind) he stayed the course and continued to grind. When you do that and trust in your hard work and fitness, sometimes good things happen even when you are down 5-0 in the 3rd. He stayed the course.

And that just embodies Russell's career. The hardest worker on tour and a maximizer of talent. Russell's game and natural ability will never be confused with a top 20 player, but while the very elite raw ability was never in the cards his work ethic is top 5 in the world. Maybe the best. And his mental approach is also top 20. And so he's been able to overcome so much because of this. Both in this tournament, and in his career.

At 35 he's now 76 in the world, and he's only been better than that for ~45 weeks in his career (career high is 60). So he's close to his peak ranking at 35. I wouldn't use the cliche "like a fine win he gets better with age" because he doesn't really get better. He just stays the same. Every single year he sustains the same top 100 level. And at 35 that's pretty damn impressive. He continues to be a pain in the ass for all the young guns scrapping for money and points out there by taking the points the challengers have to give him.

Rumor is that Russell will call it quits after the US Open next year. And he'll leave quietly like he came in, grinding behind the scenes. But American tennis will lose one of its biggest heroes, a shining example of how digging deep, working hard and staying the course can take you to places no one ever thought you could.