Michael Sell

Michael Sell, assistant coach of the United States men’s and women’s squad at the 2012 Olympic Games and former coach of the top American player in the world John Isner, enters his second season as the co-head coach of the LSU women’s tennis team and fifth with the program. With Michael Sell as co-head coach, the LSU women’s tennis team reached impressive heights during 2015-16 season. The duo hauled in the #1 Recruiting class in the Country as named by tennisrecruiting.net. The Lady Tigers broke the record for the highest team ranking in school history on three separate occasions during the season. Prior to 2016, the highest team ranking was 15th, but LSU went on to reach rankings of 14th, 13th and eventually into the Top 10 at #9 to shatter the record. Michael Sell served as the Lead National Coach for the U.S. Tennis Association Player Development coaching staff from January of 2003 until August of 2012. During that stretch, he coached a number of America’s top young juniors, including 2015 Junior French Open Champion Tommy Paul and 2015 Junior Wimbledon Champion, Reilly Opelka while assisting professionals, including Serena Williams, Mardy Fish, and Donald Young. Prior to his service at USTA, he served for two years as Former #1 in the World, Monica Seles’ personal coach. Seles won five titles and reached three other finals under his tutelage. Michael Sell played professionally on the ATP World Pro Tour for five years and reached career highs of No. 136 in singles and No. 83 in doubles. He won three singles and eleven doubles Challengers Events on the USTA Pro Circuit for 14 total titles and recorded wins over a number of Top 50 players. Michael Sell was also named as a practice partner for the 1998 U.S. Davis Cup team. Michael Sell was a four-year All-America in singles at the University of Georgia from 1992-95. He was ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation at one point during his career. In 1994, he received the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award.