Miami Open Final: Novak Djokovic defeated by teenager Jakub Mensik
Novak Djokovic missed out on his 100th ATP title after losing in straight sets to Czech teenager Jakub Mensik in the Miami Open final.
Djokovic was hoping to join Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) as the only men in the professional era with 100 or more titles. However, the 37-year-old suffered a surprise 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 Open champion, following Carlos Alcaraz, who won the tournament in 2022 at 18 years old.
Mensik, who defeated world No. 4 Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals and Indian Wells champion Jack Draper earlier in the tournament, started strong by breaking Djokovic’s serve in his first service game.
Djokovic managed to level the score, taking advantage of the only break point Mensik faced in the match. However, the Serbian struggled with his return game and lost the first five points of the opening set tie-break. He fought back but eventually lost 7-4.
Although Djokovic found some rhythm from the baseline, he could not break Mensik’s strong serve. The teenager kept his composure and secured victory in another tie-break in the second set.
After the match, Mensik expressed his admiration for Djokovic. “There is no harder challenge in tennis than beating him in a final,” he said. “You were my idol growing up. I started playing tennis because of you. But I felt really good today, and I just tried to focus on my game, as I did in previous rounds.”
The defeat leaves Djokovic without a title on tour since the ATP Finals in 2023. His only success in 2024 came at the Olympics. The Serbian also appeared to struggle with an issue under his right eye during the match.
