{"id":58808,"date":"2025-08-10T09:18:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T09:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/58808\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T09:18:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T09:18:06","slug":"meet-alex-michelsen-the-video-game-fanatic-and-star-wars-superfan-soaring-through-the-tennis-ranks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/58808\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Alex Michelsen, the video game fanatic and Star Wars superfan soaring through the tennis ranks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether it was watching Roger Federer<\/a> in the men\u2019s doubles at London 2012<\/a>, or playing the iconic accompanying video game, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, the 20-year-old cannot help but dream of fulfilling his ambitions on home soil. After all, he was born in Laguna Hills, just an hour from Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be incredible,\u201d he admits of the prospect of LA28. \u201cIt would one of the greatest things that I would get to experience in this life. I thought about it a lot. It’s close to my home, so I’m sure I would have a lot home support, and it would just be an absolutely incredible experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michelsen could have made his Olympic debut before turning 20 \u2013 he was on the verge of making the Team USA roster for Paris 2024<\/a>, where the top four men\u2019s singles players earned NOC quotas. But the then-USA no. 8 missed out by just 78 ranking points, even if he did not fully believe that he warranted a spot.<\/p>\n

He explains, \u201cI missed the Paris cut by one because a lot of the American guys didn’t want to play and I almost made it somehow \u2013 even though I shouldn’t have – I almost made it. I really hope I can make the cut, it’s close to my home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michelsen will be just 23-years-old by the time the Olympic Rings adorn LA once again, the third time that it will host the Games. Plenty of time \u2013 and competition \u2013 awaits to make it to the City of Angels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a lot of things that have to get better in my game,\u201d Michelsen concludes. \u201cI’m only 20, I’ve got to mature a lot more, I’ve got to get a better serve, a better forehand, become a better athlete. There’s a lot of things that I need to get to Olympic calibre before I step out there in ’28.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whether it was watching Roger Federer in the men\u2019s doubles at London 2012, or playing the iconic accompanying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-58808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}