My main man and Detroit native, Michael Russell, lost in the first round of the US Open this afternoon to the number 8 seed Richard Gasquet in straight sets. That was a disappointment because it means an end to his summer hard court season with not much to show for it. A very unproductive summer saw Michael go 1-2 in main draw matches and 2-2 in qualifying matches. This was after reaching his second career semifinal in Newport on grass in July.
However, it wasn't really that big a surprise as Michael has had pretty bad luck over the years at the US Open. Counting the 2013 event, Michael is 0-9 in US open appearances. 0-9, the big bagel. He has had to play a seeded player seven of the nine years that he has played. He is 6-27 in sets played. Only once has he taken the match to five sets, But he never reached a match point. I would not feel to bad though, as he has taken home about $160k for his efforts.
Overall Michael's Grand Slam record is 7-30. With career Grand Slam earnings of about $625,000. That is roughly earning of $89,285 per win. Three of his seven wins came at the 2001 French Open. Michael's last first round win at a Grand Slam came at Wimbledon in 2012.
I am hoping that isn't Muscles last US Open, but he has a lot of points to defend this fall and at 35 he is not getting any younger. This may be the last we see of Mr. Russell in the Top 100.
So, how about some predictions. Men-Nadal, Women-Serena. Not very fancy, but this has not been a very upset ridden summer. I would need Del Portro to win to make my beginning of the year prediction of the year come true that he would win his second slam. But, I will take the #1 seed, Djokovic, as my men's dark horse. For the ladies, the dark horse would be Azarenka.
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