Michaels clan stays busy

Airline revenues are down this year, but don’t blame the Michaels family.

Jake Michaels will be a junior at Laguna Beach High, Lauren a sophomore and Brooke an eighth-grader at Thurston Middle School. The trio of siblings traveled like many families this summer, but it’s safe to say they played more tennis on those trips than just about anyone.

And when the Michaels Magical Mystery Tour concluded last week at the Hawaii State Championship, all three had the opportunity to play in national junior tournaments and earn points toward a ranking.

“It was a really fun summer,” said Jake, the No. 1 singles player who helped lead the Breakers to the CIF Southern Section Division IV championship match in June. He finished the summer ranked No. 389 in the country in boys’ 18 singles, although it was cut short last week with stress fractures in his right foot.

“I played a little mini junior-national tour,” he said. “It was pretty crazy. It was a really cool experience, just to cruise around and concentrate only on tennis. I really got to improve my game a bunch. I feel like my game improved a bunch the entire summer. It just sucks that I had to finish it with an injury.”

Among other highlights, he played at the St. Louis Junior Tennis Championships on clay. Jake reached the Round of 32 in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles with partner Mark Ellis of Sherman Oaks. In the same tournament, Lauren made her summer debut in the girls’ 18s division as a 15-year-old. She advanced to the Round of 16 in doubles.

Jake said it was his first time playing in a tournament on clay, but he had a ball.

“I love sliding around out there,” he said. “The matches are more of a grind, and they’re longer matches that kind of test your endurance and mental capabilities. On a hard court, it’s finishing it with a winner, but on a clay court it’s who’s willing to stay out there for the longest time. Points were like 25, 30 [shot] rallies, easy. It was a really awesome experience. I think I like clay more than hard courts.”

Another major tournament over the summer was the West Coast Championships in Sacramento earlier this month. All three siblings played in that one, with Jake reaching the quarterfinals in doubles with partner Shane Korber of Corona del Mar and also the Round of 32 in singles.

That was also a tournament where Lauren fractured her left wrist, but toughed it out and went on to play two more matches. She could do it, because of her one-handed backhand. In the end, she advanced to the Round of 32, followed by a quarterfinal appearance at the Hawaii State Championships.

“[The fractured wrist] was awkward at the beginning, but once the match got going I just forgot about it,” said Lauren, the defending Orange Coast League doubles champion with teammate Haley Moss.

Brooke also made her summer debut in Sacramento, and then earned her first national points in the 14s division in Hawaii.

All three players are coached by their father, Greg Michaels. They all formerly played soccer, for the Southwest Soccer Club, when the family lived in Temecula. But with the help of dad, they all decided to focus on tennis and the results have come. Jake was an alternate in the 16s last year, and he went from that to being a No. 17-seeded player in the 18s at the West Coast Championships.

“I appreciate him so much,” Jake said of his dad. “I know that he knows what he’s talking about. Whenever I need him, I can go talk to him. He’s always there and watching all my matches. We’ve got a great setup going on. Sometimes it’s a little much because we’re living with him, so a lot of times it’s always tennis. It’s like we’re living and breathing tennis, but he knows what’s best for us and he’s always doing what he can to help us improve.”

Jake also saw improvement in one particularly satisfying match at the Southern California Junior Sectional Championships in Fountain Valley in June. He topped Pilki Min of Cerritos, 6-2, 6-4. It wasn’t a random victory; Min had defeated Michaels, 6-1, just two weeks earlier in the CIF title match as Cerritos beat Laguna Beach.

“That was sweet revenge,” Jake said. “He’s a good player.”

The Breakers may get revenge, too. The other top two singles players, senior Chris Lavery and junior Benito Romeo, have been entering tournaments as a doubles team throughout the summer.

But, for the Michaels family, this summer was quite an experience. In the tropical climate of Hawaii, they said they actually played through rain, as the courts stayed dry due to the hot air.

“It was really cool,” Lauren said. “Everywhere we went was a lot different than we where we lived.”

Now they’re back at home in Laguna, and the tennis playing will continue. Jake, who has stress fractures on both sides of his right foot, is hoping to be ready to play in time for the Mike Agassi “No Quit” Level 3 national tournament, which begins Sept. 19 in Las Vegas.

And the beat goes on.

“You’re always going to have a hitting partner,” Brooke said. “Especially with our family.”