MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Novak Djokovic confronted a sequence of obstacles Sunday within the Miami Open last: a delay of greater than 5 1/2 hours earlier than the match, a watch an infection and a slippery courtroom as a consequence of excessive ranges of humidity following the rain.
However the largest roadblock was the youth and energy of six-foot-four, 19-year-old phenom Jakub Mensik, who out-dueled the 37-year-old Serbian 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) to win his first ATP title.
Ranked 54th getting into the match, the Czech Republic teenager plowed by means of Djokovic with poise and a stellar 130 m.p.h. serve. He collected 14 aces and obtained damaged solely as soon as. Mensik bashed a service winner on match level and fell on his again.
“You’re the one I idolized once I was younger,” Mensik stated to Djokovic throughout the ceremony after the match that lasted two hours, three minutes. “I began taking part in tennis due to you.”
Mensik’s victory spoiled the occasion for Djokovic, who was looking for his one hundredth profession title and a file seventh within the Miami Open. Djokovic must wait, whereas {the teenager} appears prepared to hitch the elite.
“It is a joyous second for him and his household — an unbelievable match, first of many,” Djokovic stated. “It hurts me to confess it, you had been higher. Within the clutch moments you delivered the products. For a younger participant like your self, it is a nice function.”
The gang pulled laborious for Djokovic, who hadn’t performed right here since 2019. Greater than three-quarters of the followers caught round regardless of the large delay, chanting “No-vak!” and singing his title throughout vital elements of the match.
Djokovic, removed from a fan favorite right here earlier in his profession, saluted the followers, saying it was one of many warmest crowds he’s had ever.
However the males’s chief with 24 Grand Slam titles appeared compromised by his eye difficulty, with redness seen below the eyelid. Djokovic utilized eyedrops throughout two changeovers within the first set. It was unclear if it affected his imaginative and prescient.
Afterward, Djokovic stated he “actually prefers to not speak about” his eye, however stated “I didn’t really feel my best on the courtroom.”
Djokovic referred to as it “a bizarre day.”
“It’s the identical for each gamers,” he added. “You must settle for the circumstances. I attempted to take advantage of out of what I had or was going through however, yeah, it was fairly completely different from another day of the match for me.”
Throughout the set, he additionally slipped twice on the courtroom. The humidity reached 90 per cent after hours of rain disrupted the cardboard. Sweating profusely, Djokovic requested the umpire for a bucket of sawdust to sprinkle on his moist grip.
Mensik had misplaced to Djokovic in a three-setter final October on the Shanghai Masters however the teenager stated earlier than the match he had performed too nervously.
Mensik was taking part in his first ATP 1000 last. He was not fairly two years previous when Djokovic received his first Miami Open title in 2007.
Djokovic knew Mensik’s potential after inviting him to his camp in Belgrade to coach when the prodigy was 16.
“He has the whole sport. His serve is unbelievable, highly effective, exact,” Djokovic stated.
There was extra fearlessness this time than in Shanghai. Mensik obtained up 3-0 with an early break however Djokovic broke again at 4-3, then held for 4-4 after followers chanted his title.
Mensik held for a 6-5 lead in a sport that noticed Djokovic take a tumble within the doubles alley chasing a drop shot. Mensik served it out along with his seventh ace.
Within the first-set tiebreak, Mensik charged forward 5-0. Mensik executed a leaping backhand volley winner and Djokovic muffed a routine forehand drop shot into the online to fall behind 5-0. On set level, Mensik slugged an overhead smash for a winner.
The match was scheduled for 3 p.m. however the gamers didn’t take the courtroom till 8:37 p.m. as a consequence of rain and organizers deciding on finishing the ladies’s doubles last.
The South Florida rain started at 12:50 p.m. throughout the ladies’s doubles last pitting Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider towards Cristina Bucsa and Miyu Kato, with Andreeva and Shnaider main 3-0 within the first set.
The ladies’s gamers returned to the courtroom at 5:30 p.m. after the rain stopped and the courts had been readied by court-drying equipment. However rain started minutes later earlier than warmups and the umbrella-toting gamers left the courtroom once more.
The ladies returned to the courtroom an hour later and resumed play at 6:50 p.m. Andreeva and Schnaider went the space, prevailing in a third-set match tiebreaker 6-3, 6-7 (5), 10-2.
