Mensik Tops Djokovic To Win Miami Open Title
On Sunday, the Miami Open men’s singles final featured a matchup between two players in search of a monumental title.
For Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, he was looking to win the first ATP Tour title of his career, but was attempting to do so against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who was in pursuit of his 100th career title.
Mensik upset the six-time Miami champion Djokovic, outplaying him in two tiebreakers to win 7-6(4), 7-6(4) and secure his maiden ATP title.
“To be honest, I don’t know what to say,” Mensik said. “It feels incredible, obviously. It was probably the biggest day of 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.”
In the biggest match of his life, Mensik had to sit around and wait for the match to start during a six-hour rain delay.
But when it got underway he showed no signs of nerves, as the 18-year-old blasted 14 aces and had his serve broken just one time.
“It was not the first time I’ve played against Novak. There is no harder task in tennis than to beat him in the finals,” Mensik added. “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.”
As a result of his win, Mensik will shoot up the rankings to 24th in the world.
“This is Jakub’s moment—moment of his team, moment of his family. Congratulations, unbelievable tournament,” Djokovic said. “It hurts me to admit, 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.”
