Sam Bunce
Jakub Mensik became the 9th youngest ATP Masters 1000 champion as he defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the Miami Open final, 7-6, 7-6.
Both sets went to tie breaks but the Czech, who won his first ATP tour title of his career, gained the upper hand in crucial rallies and put to bed the claims of Djokovic’s aptitude to come on the right side of a tie break.
According to ATP statistics, the Serb is tennis’ best player in tie break situations with an almost 66% win rate. Nevertheless, Mensik kept the pace in both tie breaks, which each ended 7-4, as Djokovic began to fade, fighting tirelessly for every point.
Mensik started as the 54th seed at the beginning of the tournament and climbed to reach his highest ranking yet of 24th seed with the win. A scorching serve on match point capped off a tournament where his serve outshone his competitors, as he achieved 111 aces in his six matches.
The 19-year-old has been another tennis prodigy coming through, but perhaps more distant from the headlines and the limelight compared to Learner Tien and Joao Fonseca, who he was defeated by at the NextGen ATP Finals in Saudi Arabia last December.
Also in that tournament, which showcased the pinnacle of young talent in the sport, he lost to Arthur Fils amongst his three defeats in the round robin format in the Middle East. However, in Miami, he carved the Frenchman open in the second set of their quarter-final tie.
Mensik defeated Casper Ruud at the Australian Open earlier this year, which was a sign of what could come, but to stun Jack Draper and Taylor Fritz before pushing through against his childhood tennis hero, was an incredible way to do it in Miami.
Novak Djokovic was chasing an unprecedented 100 titles at ATP tour level and an exit to Botic van de Zandschulp at Indian Wells bought him time, along with his coach Andy Murray, to hone his serve in particular, and his physical as well as mental durability.
A loss, also in the Round of 64 in California, perhaps afforded Mensik a similar opportunity to make adjustments before travelling to the other side of America, where it turns out he would play the best tennis of his life.
Lionel Messi was in attendance for Djokovic’s and Mensik’s semi-finals, with both players coming out on top, and both acknowledged the inspirational presence of one of football’s greatest ever players watching over them.
The final on the other hand did not provide the biggest blessing to either player nor the spectators, since it was delayed by almost six hours due to rain.
Djokovic is a six time champion at the Miami Open, but the 24-time grand slam winner had not made an appearance at the tournament since 2019.
Mensik and Djokovic last faced each other in the quarter-final of the Shanghai Masters with the Serb’s experience getting the better of the youngster’s interminable tenacity in the match.
Mensik was back to have another bite at the cherry in Miami, and Djokovic was never an easy test, despite the questions now over his endurance as tournaments progress.
In 2005, the year Mensik was born, Djokovic was well on his way to going up the seeds and into the top 100 rankings already. The Czech commented following their head-to-head that, “I started to play tennis because of you,” and he claimed Djokovic was the “greatest of all time” in tennis.
He added, “there is no harder task in tennis than to beat him in the finals.” Mensik’s performance said otherwise considering the magnitude of the task, as he only faced one break point in the entire match and overcame the mental game Djokovic characterises tie breaks to come down to in stylish fashion, without ceding unnecessary points.
The runner-up and Australian Open semi-finalist in January, Novak Djokovic, commended the efforts of his opponent, “it hurts me to admit it, but you were better. In the clutch moments, you delivered the goods (with) unbelievable serving and just a phenomenal effort mentally as well to stay tough in a difficult moment.”
Miami draws an end to the hard-court season as the men’s singles enters the European clay court swing, beginning with the Monte-Carlo Masters 1000 in Monaco next week.
Clay demands a different approach and a varied skill set, which players will have to quickly accustom themselves to, some with more enthusiasm and capability than others.
The Dubai Open winner and three-time champion in Monaco, Stefanos Tsitsipas, will be among the contenders, while Carlos Alcaraz will have been practising his craft on the clay with a Round of 64 loss to David Goffin in Miami.
The Spaniard will be eager to reproduce his Roland-Garros triumph and with Jannik Sinner expected to be back for then, despite the Italian world number one’s less successful spells on the clay surface in the past, Alcaraz will need to be ready in May.
In regards to the women’s singles at the Miami Open, Aryna Sabalenka defeated American Jessica Pegula in the final on Saturday 7-5, 6-2.
It was a repeat of the US Open final in 2024, where Sabalenka underpinned why she was at the very top of the women’s rankings.
Pegula beat Emma Raducanu and Alexandra Eala in a more favourable route to the final, but the losses to Mirra Andreeva at Indian Wells and Madison Keys at the Australian Open for Sabalenka had put fire in her eyes.
Sabalenka won in straight sets in all her matches in Miami with three of those coming against opponents seeded in the top 10 of the WTA rankings.
She has been unmatched on hard courts in recent years, triumphing at the Australian Open on two consecutive occasions and taking home the US Open in 2024, the year where the 26-year-old ended as the number one seed for the first time in her career.
To come away with a win to conclude her series of hard court matches was pivotal. Even though she has pulled further afield from the rest in the rankings, her 2025 needed a boost, especially going on to the clay.
The women remain on the same side of the Atlantic to begin their clay court season with a WTA 500, which Jessica Pegula headlines as the number one seed, in Charleston, South Carolina. The next WTA 1000 event will be in Madrid, unlike the men’s singles Masters 1000 in Monaco.
Sam Bunce
Featured image courtesy of Josephine Gasser via Unsplash. Image use license found here (Unsplash). No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of @miamiopen via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.?
In article image 2 courtesy of @miamiopen via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.?
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