The first big upset of the 2025 Australian Open landed on just the second day of the competition, as the men’s tournament saw 2023 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas crash out in his opening round match against unseeded 20-year-old American Alex Michelsen in four sets. Tsitsipas succumbed to a four-set loss as the exciting American player continued his rise with a 7-5 6-3 2-6 6-4 victory at the John Cain Arena in Melbourne Park.
This early loss continues a trend of early exits from grand slams for Tsitsipas, whose poor form in 2024 saw him drop out of the top ten in the rankings. Despite the Greek star entering his prime at age 26, this is his second consecutive first round loss, having been bounced out of the 2024 US Open in the first round by Thanaski Kokkinakis and subsequently missing the year-end Nitto ATP Finals.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Tsitsipas said “It’s quite ironic. My whole idea was to try to go deep into the Australian Open. I knew the first thing I had to consider was not playing doubles.”
“I guess karma hit me,” continued the 26-year-old. “I was not able to deliver or play the way I had hoped to at this year’s event. The whole purpose was to conserve energy and be fresher for the later stages of the tournament.”
Michelsen, meanwhile, continued his breakthrough with his first win over a top 15 opponent in a grand slam. The American broke into the world’s top 50 at the end of 2024, and looks poised for a rapid jump up the rankings in this season.
Michelsen delivered in a match that was seen as a big candidate for an early upset, with Tsitsipas’ poor form combined with Michelsen’s quality making for a contest that many saw the Greek struggling in. The backhand battle proved to be the key, as Michelsen was able to find purchase with 18 winners compared to 7 from the single-handed stroke of Tsitsipas.
This was Tsitsipas’ first grand slam since splitting from his father Apostolos as coach, with the result not going his way. “The most frustrating part about losing in the first round of a grand slam is having too much time to recover,” he explained. “I’d prefer the opposite — not having enough time. Honestly, that’s far better for problem-solving. It just sucks that I’ll be hanging around for quite a while before my next tournament.”
Tsitsipas has enjoyed some terrific performances in Australia, including defeating Roger Federer in a breakthrough run to the semifinals in 2019. Despite three semifinal and one final appearance in Australia, Tsitsipas was found lacking on this occasion as the important points went in Michelsen’s favour.
Michelsen will now face Australian wild card entry James McCabe in the second round of the tournament.
