Michael Russell

Born May 1, 1978 is a retired American professional tennis player, who is now the tennis coach of Tennys Sandgren. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 60 in August 2007. His 23 United States Tennis Association (USTA) Pro Circuit singles titles were the all-time record, as of November 2013. That month he became the third-highest-ranked American in the world.

In 1994 Russell was ranked No. 1 in both singles and doubles in the USTA Boys' 16 rankings, and in 1996 he was ranked No. 1 in singles in the U.S. Boys' 18-Under. Playing for the University of Miami in 1996–97, he was named National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Rookie of the Year, before he turned pro in 1997. A high school valedictorian, Russell was one of the few Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) players while he played who had a college degree, having earned a B.S. from the University of Phoenix with a 3.94 grade point average.