Michael Mmoh (/moʊ/ MOH;[3] born January 10, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. Mmoh has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 81 achieved on 11 September 2023. He has won seven ATP Challenger titles and four ITF Futures tournaments, including his first at the age of 16. He won the USTA junior national championship in 2016.
Born in Saudi Arabia, where he lived until the age of 13, Mmoh has both Irish and Nigerian ancestry. Michael's father Tony Mmoh was also a professional tennis player who represented Nigeria and reached a career-high ranking of No.105. His mother was born in Ireland and is also an Australian citizen. Mmoh's parents named him after basketball superstar Michael Jordan.
Mmoh began playing tennis at age 3. He trains at the IMG Academy in Florida.[4]
Mmoh peaked in the junior rankings at No. 2 after reaching the semifinals at the 2015 Junior French Open, where he lost to eventual champion Tommy Paul. He won the 2016 USTA 18s Boys' National Championship to earn a wild card into the main draw of the US Open.
Mmoh enjoyed early success on the ITF Futures tour, winning three titles before turning 18.
In February 2016, Mmoh qualified for his first ATP-level tournament at Memphis by defeating fellow Americans Dennis Novikov and Bjorn Fratangelo. He then lost in the first round to eventual finalist Taylor Fritz, the highest ranked American teenager at the time. Following his fourth Futures title, Mmoh was awarded a wildcard into the Miami Masters, where he lost to Alexander Zverev, the top-ranked 18 year-old in the world, after dropping two tiebreaks.
In September 2016, Mmoh broke into the top 300 for the first time by reaching the final of the ATP Challenger event at Tiburon as a qualifier.
In November 2016, he reached the Top 200 and also won the 2017 Australian Open Wild Card Challenge largely by winning his first career Challenger title at Knoxville. He would claim another Challenger title the following summer in August 2017 at Lexington.
To start off the 2018 season, Mmoh recorded his first career ATP-level match wins by defeating Federico Delbonis in the first round of the Brisbane International and world No. 33 Mischa Zverev to make the quarterfinals, where he lost to Alex de Minaur.[5]
At the 2018 Miami Open he reached the third round as a qualifier for the first time at a Masters level defeating 12th seed Roberto Bautista Agut for his first top-15 win and the biggest of his career.[6]
He entered the main draw at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships for the first time at this Grand Slam as a lucky loser. He reached the top 100 at World No. 97 on 1 October 2018.
In January 2019, Mmoh qualified for the first time via ranking in a Grand Slam main draw at the 2019 Australian Open where he lost in the first round to Radu Albot.
At the 2020 Australian Open, Mmoh recorded his first main draw victory with a straight sets win over Pablo Andújar as a wildcard. Following his Australian Open performance, Mmoh qualified for the main draw at the 2020 US Open, where he won his first round match against João Sousa in four sets, and also at the 2020 French Open, where he lost in the first round.
At the 2021 Australian Open he reached again the second round in a five set stunning comeback against Viktor Troicki but lost to second seed Rafael Nadal in the next round.[7]
He received a wildcard for the 2021 Miami Open.
In 2022, he entered the 2022 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships as a lucky loser directly into the second round replacing top seed Casper Ruud who withdrew in the last minute. He won his first match defeating Sam Querrey to reach the quarterfinals[8] but withdrew due to injury.[9]
Mmoh won a wildcard entry into the main draw at the 2022 French Open by winning the Roland Garros wildcard challenge.[10]
Mmoh's first tournament of the year was in Pune, where he defeated local wildcard Manas Dhamne in the first round[11] before losing to the 6th seed, Filip Krajinović in the second round.[12]
He then entered the 2023 Australian Open as a lucky loser after the withdrawal of David Goffin and won his first round match, defeating fellow qualifier French Laurent Lokoli, after saving a match point in the third set. He then defeated 12th seed Alexander Zverev in the second round.[13][14] He became the fifth player to make it as a lucky loser to the third round; the furthest a lucky loser had made it at this Major is the fourth round (Stéphane Robert in 2014).[15] As a result he moved up 25 positions back into the top 100 to a new career-high singles ranking of No. 83 on 30 January 2023.[16]
In February, he lost in the first round at the Dallas Open to eventual champion Yibing Wu. The following week, he reached the round of 16 at the Delray Beach Open by defeating wildcard Aleksandar Kovacevic in three sets.[17] He then reached the quarterfinals after upsetting third seed Denis Shapovalov, also in three sets.[18] As a result, he reached a new career high ranking of No. 82 on 20 February 2023.
In early March, Mmoh suffered a leg injury at the Mexican Open during his second round match against Tommy Paul and did not return to competition until May at the French Open, where he lost in the first round to ninth seed Taylor Fritz. He entered the 2023 Wimbledon Championships as a lucky loser again and defeated 11th seed Félix Auger-Aliassime in the first round.
In July 2023, in Washington, D.C., he defeated world No. 17 Hubert Hurkacz, and in Winston-Salem he beat Marcos Giron as a wildcard.[19] Next he defeated 11th seed Karen Khachanov in the first and John Isner in the second round of the US Open.[20] It was Isner's last singles match before retiring from professional tennis.[21][22]
Current through the 2024 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships.