Czech teenager Jakub Mensik on Sunday upset Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/4) to win the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium, denying the Serb his 100th career title.
The 19-year-old, ranked 54th in the world, claimed his first title on the ATP Tour with an outstanding display of powerful tennis.
The final was delayed by almost six hours due to heavy rain and when the players emerged it was clear that Djokovic had an eye infection. He used eye drops during a changeover in the first set.
Photo: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Mensik started strongly, breaking Djokovic’s first service game to go 2-0 up, and the tall, big-serving Czech was dominating until, at 4-2, Djokovic broke back when Mensik found the net.
The set remained on serve from then on, but in the tiebreak Mensik’s powerful serve, with two aces, put him in charge from the outset. He opened up a 5-0 lead and although 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic fought back, the youngster sealed the set with an overhead volley.
It was the first set that Djokovic had lost in the entire tournament. Twice he lost his footing and ended up on his back, and he changed his footwear between sets.
Mensik had beaten Djokovic by the exact same margin in the first set of their only other meeting in Shanghai before losing in three sets, but this time the momentum appeared to be with him.
The second set was a nip-and-tuck affair, though, with neither player able to break. Once again Mensik’s power proved decisive in the tiebreak and when Djokovic went long on a return to hand him victory he fell to his back in celebration.
“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 said.
Mensik has made no secret of the fact that he grew up with Djokovic as his idol and after receiving the trophy he said that he started his career in the hope of emulating the Serb.
“There is no harder task for a tennis player than to beat you in the final of a tournament,” he said.
“I am pretty sure that this was just the first of many,” Mensik added, before revealing that he had been close to pulling out of the tournament before his first match due to a knee injury before last minute physiotherapy produced the desired results.
After the match Djokovic admitted he had not felt at his best.
“It’s unfortunate for me. Two tiebreaks, just very weird match, weird day with [the] rain delay and all the things that [were] happening. Honestly, yeah, I didn’t feel my greatest on the court, but it is what it is. Nothing to take away from his victory,” Djokovic said.
Asked specifically about his eye problem, the Serb said: “I really prefer not to talk about — there are quite a few things, but I prefer not to... Just congratulate him. That’s it. I don’t want to sound like I’m giving excuses here for my loss.”
Djokovic said he had spotted Mensik’s talent a few years ago and invited him to train at his club.
“I saw him play when he was 15 or 16 and invited him, we had some training blocks together. He was training at my club in Belgrade and, you know, to see his development and evolution is really great, amazing,” he said. “Never really happy to lose, but he’s one of the very few players that I would be happier to lose to, to be honest.”
The match between the 37-year-old Djokovic and Mensik was the biggest age gap difference in a Masters 1000 final and the biggest age gap of any ATP Tour final since 1976.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in