Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios suffered early upsets at the 2025 Australian Open. The common denominator of their opponents?
Both Alex Michelsen (UTR Rating 15.54) and Jacob Fearnley (UTR Rating 15.14) honed their games on the UTR Pro Tennis Tour, the leading pathway for rising professional tennis players across the world.
Find and play in a PTT event near you
The ascendant players are just two of the 17 men and women players who have or are competing in the 2025 Australian Open main draw. All in all, more than 45 players (full list at bottom) with PTT experience competed in the qualifying and main draws of the season’s first major championship, showing just how popular the PTT has become among all pro tennis players.
Pro players, established and rising, have been drawn to the PTT for its guaranteed matchplay and guaranteed prize money. The innovative format of the PTT, including its prize money system, is found nowhere else in the professional tennis world.
This year, players also are benefiting from the new $500,000 Tour Card Program, which features a yearlong points race and additional income-earning opportunities based on merit.
Michelsen is a two-time PTT champion, having won the $25K PTT Newport Beach in December 2021 and December 2022. The 20-year-old is already inside the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings at No. 42, one spot off his career-high, and has been recognized as one of the rising stars on the ATP Tour.
Michelsen competed at the prestigious Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah last month. He beat Tsitsipas, 2023 Australian Open finalist, in four sets for one of the biggest wins of his career.
READ MORE: How Alex Michelsen Rose Up the Rankings
“I had a set game plan and I knew what I wanted to do. The plan was specific to Stef, but when you play that well, playing that aggressively, you think to yourself that I might try this more often. I feel if I'm playing like that, it would definitely work against a lot of the guys,” Michelsen told ATPTour.com.
The tennis world saw a glimpse of Fearnley’s talent on the big stage last year when the former TCU Horned Frog pushed 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon. Fearnley showed that flair on the PTT when he won the PTT $25K Dallas, held on the SMU campus, in August 2022. He's also a two-time PTT finalist.
This year, the PTT is forging even more dynamic partnerships with elite college tennis programs. The number of college campuses hosting PTT events in 2025 is expected to triple in 2025, from 30 to more than 100. That incredible growth is in line with a broader, global expansion of the PTT to more than 20,000 matches a year.
Fearnley beat home favorite Kyrgios in a rowdy evening match in John Cain Arena. The 23-year-old Fearnley leaned on his college tennis experience at TCU, where the he helped bring home a national title last year.
WATCH: How UTR Sports is Elevating College Tennis
“I’ve never experienced anything like this, but I definitely had some heckles thrown my way over four-and-a-half seasons at TCU. That definitely helped, but I think that an experience like this will help me going forward for sure,” Fearnley said, according to ATPTour.com. “All things considered, I think it’s probably the best match I ever played.”
On the women's side, four-time PTT champion Destanee Aiava of Australia (UTR Rating 11.79) had a career breakthrough of her own on Tuesday by winning her first Grand Slam singles match.
Aiava made her Grand Slam debut in 2017 as a teenager, and the now 24-year-old was relieved to be celebrating her maiden major victory.
"Just to get that first win out the way this year is really great. I hope to keep it going," she said, according to the AAP. "I don't know if I've broken through yet. I just am trying to keep the momentum going from my quallies matches."
Aiava will face 10th seed and 2022 Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins, who was the recipient of the Universal Tennis Foundation Hurd Award in 2022.
In addition to Michelsen and Fearnley, seven other former PTT players remain in the men's and women's singles draws. On the women's side, Iva Jovic faces sixth seed Elena Rybakina.
On the men's side, Tristan Boyer, Learner Tien, James McCabe, Ben Shelton, and Tristan Schoolkate, who faces Jannik Sinner in round two, are all vying for more Grand Slam glory.
The 23-year-old Schoolkate (UTR Rating 14.31) won the $25K PTT Atlanta in July 2021 and will have the home crowd on his side when he faces the world No. 1.
“It's fantastic. I've got nothing to lose,” Schoolkate said. “To play a World No. 1, it's pretty crazy, pretty cool. I'm going to give my best shot, and I believe I can win the match. I'm going to go out there and have a crack and do everything I can. And if it's good enough, it's good enough. If it's not, it's not. We'll go have a good time.”
Men | Women |
---|---|
Dane Sweeny | Jaimee Fourlis |
Ethan Quinn | Kimberly Birrell |
Tristan Boyer | Destanee Aiava |
Learner Tien | Darja Semenistaja |
Brandon Holt | Taylah Preston |
Zachary Svajda | Yulia Starodubtseva |
Edward Winter | Olivia Gadecki |
Alex Michelsen | Taylor Townsend |
Tristan Schoolkate | McCartney Kessler |
Li Tu | Anastasiya Sobolieva |
James McCabe | Elena Micic |
Ben Shelton | Oksana Selekhmeteva |
Adam Walton | Hanna Chang |
Omar Jasika | Carole Monnet |
Jacob Fearnley | Alice Tubello |
Billy Harris | Petra Hule |
Alejandro Moro Canas | Anouk Koevermans |
Federico Gomez | Katie Volynets |
Ignacio Buse | Iva Jovic |
Calvin Hemery | |
Blake Ellis | |
Antoine Escoffier | |
Pavle Marinkov | |
Oriol Roca Batalla | |
Benjamin Hassan | |
Duje Ajdukovic | |
James Trotter | |
Hayden Jones | |
Juan Pablo Ficovich | |
Nishesh Basavareddy |
Learn more about the UTR Pro Tennis Tour, UTR Rating:
- View Updated PTT Points Race Standings
- UTR Sports Expands PTT Player Relations Team
- UTR Pro Tennis Tour Expands to More College Tennis Programs
- UTR Sports Enters NIL Space
- College Tennis Shines, Australia's Parnaby Sees Double on UTR PTT in August
- UTR Sports Announces New PTT Tour Card Program
- UTR Sports Announces Expanded 2025 Global Calendar, $11 Million Pro Tennis Investment
- UTR Sports Selects Sportradar in Long Term, Wide-ranging Partnership
- Tennis Ratings: UTR Rating vs. WTN vs. NTRP
- How UTR Rating Works
- PTT Players in 2024 US Open Main Draw
- 34 PTT-Connected Players Compete in 2024 US Open Qualifying