Mumbai: Never meet your heroes, they say. Jakub Mensik went out for a battle with his and came out a winner, in an ATP Masters final no less. Falling on his back after two tense tiebreaks, he walked up with hands folded and embraced his defeated but gracious hero who had crossed over the net smiling.
The 19-year-old Czech wasn’t just living a dream, he was doing so in front of the man responsible for shaping it. “Because of him, basically, I started to play tennis,” Mensik said.
Novak Djokovic doesn’t like to lose, not least in a big tournament final while bidding for a landmark 100th tour title. And so, when the 37-year-old says this teen is “one of the very few players that I would be happier to lose to”, you get a sense of the impression Mensik has made on him.
The rising 6’4” frame also made quite an impression at the Miami Masters, stunning his tennis idol 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in the final to capture his first ATP crown.
That Mensik would open his title count with a Masters trophy shows how special the last couple of weeks were in a tournament he would’ve pulled out of had the referee not been away for lunch (an hour before his opening round, a knee inflammation was attended to by an ATP physio). That Mensik is the second-youngest Miami champion after Carlos Alcaraz also shows how strong this youngster’s presence could be on the tour in the years to come.
Touching a new career-high of world No.24 on Monday from being nearly 400th two years ago, and going all the way in Miami from exiting the qualifying rounds a year ago, the rise has certainly been steep. But hardly shocking.
A 2022 junior Australian Open singles finalist, Mensik took barely a year into his pro career for his first Challenger title. That he was made for bigger and sterner stages was evident in the opponents he began to beat last year. The list includes Denis Shapovalov at Australian Open, Andy Murray — Djokovic’s current coach — and Andrey Rublev en route to the Qatar Open final, Grigor Dimitrov for his first top 10 win at the Madrid Masters, and Rublev and Dimitrov again to make the Shanghai Masters quarters.
Djokovic connection
That’s where he went down to Djokovic from being one set up. The 24-time Grand Slam champion knew too well the challenge that the Czech would present. Having shared physios and spotted the promising talent in juniors, the Serb invited the Czech for a training gig with him.
“I could see back then already — three, four years ago — that he’s going to be one of the top players of the world,” Djokovic said. “I’m super glad that he’s using the potential that he has, because he’s got the complete game.”
Mensik flaunts a powerful serve — he hit 111 aces in Miami, including 14 against Djokovic — as his primary weapon, and has a polished backhand. “Czech school, they always have a great backhand,” said Djokovic.
The forehand has got better, so has his court movement and point construction. On numerous occasions and a few pressure points against Djokovic, who appeared to be struggling with an eye issue and at times physically too, Mensik charged forward to plonk his tall presence at the net.
As his game developed, so has the mentality. When he played Djokovic for the first time in Shanghai late last year, Mensik said the mindset was to simply cherish the experience of competing with his childhood hero. In Miami, coming off a third-round finish at the 2025 Australian Open where he defeated sixth seed Casper Ruud, the mindset was to beat him.
“In Shanghai, it was more about just going there and enjoying the moment, which I kind of did. Here, I’m a different player right now. And I had the winning mentality. I went out there to win,” Mensik told the Tennis Channel.
To best Djokovic in a final, and go better than him twice in tiebreaks, that mentality is a prerequisite. The 19-year-old is now carrying that to court, no matter the stature of the man on the other side. Into the top 25, Mensik is going to come across plenty more such names going forward. And he wants to keep pressing.
Signing off after the final, Mensik wrote “#1st of many” on camera.
“It feels really great to have this next to me, but it’s not just about the one title, one tournament. I’m hungry for more,” he said. “I will, me and my team, do my best to lift these trophies more often.”
Just as he watched Djokovic do growing up.
