Novak Djokovic fell short in his bid to claim a 100th ATP title following a straight-sets defeat by Czech teenager Jakub Mensik in the Miami Open final.
Djokovic was looking to join Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) as the only three men in the professional era with 100 or more titles, but the 37-year-old crashed to a shock 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4) defeat in humid conditions after several hours of rain delays on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Czech won his first ATP Masters 1000 final and became the second-youngest Miami champion behind Carlos Alcaraz, who won in 2022 as an 18-year-old.
The defeat leaves Djokovic, who appeared to struggle with an issue underneath his right eye, without a title on tour since the ATP Finals in 2023. His only success in 2024 came at the Olympics.
“There is no harder task in tennis than to beat him in the finals,” said Mensik, who lost his only previous meeting with Djokovic in Shanghai.
“You’re the one I idolised when I was young. I started playing tennis because of you.
“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.”
Mensik, who beat world No 4 Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals and Indian Wells champion Jack Draper in an earlier round, broke the six-time Miami champion in his opening service game.
Djokovic levelled as he seized on the only break point Mensik faced in the match, but struggled on his return and lost the first five points of the opening set tie-break.
He rallied before going down 7-4 and while he found some rhythm from the back of the court, he could make no inroads against the Mensik serve and the teenager completed victory in another tie-break in the second set.
Djokovic calls it ‘a weird day’
Djokovic said losing to his protege made it a little easier to digest
Djokovic admitted his opponent – 18 years his junior – was better and congratulated him on an “unbelievable tournament”.
“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. Unbelievable serving and just a phenomenal effort mentally, to stay tough in a difficult moment.”
Djokovic called it “a weird day” and said he “really prefers not to talk about” his eye, but added: “I didn’t feel my greatest on the court.”
“I’m 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,” Djokovic told reporters. “I’ve seen 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 (in 2022) and to see his development and evolution is really great, amazing.
“I could see back then already that he’s going to be one of the top players of the world. I’m super glad that he’s using the potential that he has because he’s got the complete game.”
“His serve is incredible, powerful, precise and he wins a lot of free points with the first serve,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic added.
“Backhand as well. Czech school, they always have a great backhand. But forehand, he’s improved a lot. And movement for a tall, big guy like that, he slides and moves well.
“He still can improve, of course, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing him around.
“It’s unfortunate for me. Two tie-breaks, weird match, weird day with the rain delay and all the things that were happening. I didn’t feel my greatest on court but it is what it is. Nothing to take away from his victory.”
Menisk will rise to a career-best No 24 in Monday’s rankings, two years after he was ranked 390th in the world.
He also became the first Czech player to win an ATP Masters 1000 event since Tomas Berdych prevailed in 2005 in Paris.
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