2 days Ago By Zee News
The 19-year-old Mensik became the second-youngest titlist in tournament history behind Carlos Alcaraz, who lifted the trophy in 2022 as an 18-year-old. Jakub Mensik overcame rain and a legendary opponent as he stunned Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4) to win the Miami Open 2025 title. It was Mensik's first ATP Tour title.
With this, the 19-year-old Mensik became the second-youngest titlist in tournament history behind Carlos Alcaraz, who lifted the trophy in 2022 as an 18-year-old. "To be honest I don't know what to say. It feels incredible, obviously," Mensik said in his on-court interview.
"It was probably the biggest day of my life and I did super, which I'm really glad [about], to show the performance and keep the nerves outside of the court before the match. I feel just super happy and I think that the feelings will come later," he added. The match was delayed nearly six hours by rain in Florida, giving Mensik plenty of time to think about the task at hand, which was trying to stop Djokovic from claiming the 100th tour-level title of his career.
The Czech rose to the occasion to play the match of his life, producing a scintillating serving performance to become the first player from his country to win an ATP Masters 1000 event since Tomas Berdych triumphed in Paris in 2005. "It was not the first time I've played against Novak," said Mensik, who lost his first ATP Head-to-Head meeting against his idol Djokovic last year in the Shanghai quarter-finals. "There is no harder task in tennis than to beat him in the finals.
But of course I felt really great and it's my time, so I just tried to focus on the match like I did before in previous rounds," he added. With the victory, Mensik will climb to a career-high No. 24 in the ATP Rankings, passing Jiri Lehecka to become the second-ranked Czech player behind No.
21 Tomas Machac. Two years ago, Mensik was World No. 390.
On the other hand, it was a resurgent week for Djokovic, who began the tournament with a 7-4 record this season. Despite the disappointment of not lifting his 100th tour-level trophy, the Serbian praised his opponent. "This is Jakub's moment - moment of his team, moment of his family.
Congratulations, unbelievable tournament," Djokovic said. "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," he said. Notably, this was the second ATP Head-to-Head meeting between Djokovic and Mensik.
The 18-year difference between them marked the biggest age gap in an ATP Masters 1000 final. Their series is now tied at 1-1 (Djokovic won in Shanghai last year). Stay informed on all the latest news , real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in india news and world News on Zee News.
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