Number 54 of the world, Czech Jakub Mensik, just 19, was not intimidated by the presence of the other side of Serbian Novak Djokovic, 18-year-old, former number 1 and current 5th of the ranking and in search of his 100th career title.
In the Masters 1000 final of Miami, delayed in almost six hours because of the rain, Mensik showed maturity throughout the match and used a great withdrawal service and right blows to win by 2 sets to 0, with a double Tie-Break —7/6 (4) and 7/6 (4).
It was the first title of an ATP level tournament (Association of Professional Tenns) of the tennis player’s career, defeated by Brazilian João Fonseca in the group stage of Next Gen at the end of last year.
“To be honest, I don’t know what to say. It’s an amazing feeling, obviously. It’s probably the best day of my life,” Mensik said in an interview on the court.
Thrilled alongside Djokovic at the end of the match, he said he started in tennis inspired by the performance of the Serbian courts.
Czech was born in September 2005, when Djoko was already in the Top 100 of the ATP ranking. “There is no more difficult task in tennis than to beat it in a final,” said the natural 1.93m tennis player of ProstěJov in the Czech Republic.
“This is the moment of Jakub, your team, your family. Congratulations on the unbelievable tournament. The first of many. It hurts admit, but you were better,” said Djokovic.
With the achievement, Mensik took revenge on the suffered defeat for the Serbian in the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters 1000 in 2024.
Professional since 2022, his best campaign until then had been at ATP de Doha last year, when he advanced to the final, losing his decision to Russian Karen Khachanov.
With the 1,000 points distributed to the champion, Mensik should climb some positions in the ATP ranking and appear in the top 30 in the update on Monday (31), the best career place.
Tennis player with more 1000 Masters titles in history, with 40 trophies, Djokovic has not won a category tournament since November 2023, when he won the title of Paris. He is also the record holder of Grand Slam titles, with 23 achievements.
The Serb should now go to the clay floor disputes in search of the 100th title, at Monte Carlo Masters 1000, which he has won twice (2013 and 2015), and in Madrid, in which he is three -time champion (2011, 2016 and 2019).
Belgrade’s first career title was in the long time 2006 at the age of 19 when he won the Amersfoort ATP in the Netherlands, beating the decision Chilean Nicolas Massu.
Ahead of Djokovic in number of titles are only the American Jimmy Connors, with 109, and the Swiss Roger Federer, with 103.
