MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Novak Djokovic confronted a sequence of obstacles Sunday within the Miami Open remaining: a delay of greater than 5½ hours earlier than the match, an eye fixed an infection and a slippery court docket as a result of excessive ranges of humidity following the rain.
However the largest roadblock was the youth and energy of 6-foot-4, 19-year-old phenom Jakub Mensik, who outdueled the 37-year-old Serbian in two tiebreakers 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) to win his first ATP title.
Ranked 54th getting into the match, the Czech Republic teenager plowed by way of Djokovic with poise and a stellar 130 mph serve. He collected 14 aces and was damaged solely as soon as. Mensik bashed a service winner on match level and fell on his again.
“You are the one I idolized after I was younger,″ Mensik mentioned to Djokovic in the course of the ceremony after the match that lasted 2 hours, 3 minutes. “I began enjoying tennis due to you.″
Mensik’s victory spoiled the social gathering for Djokovic, who was searching for his one centesimal profession title and a document seventh within the Miami Open. Djokovic must wait, whereas {the teenager} appears prepared to affix the elite.
“This can be a joyous second for him and his household — an unbelievable match, first of many,″ Djokovic mentioned. “It hurts me to confess it, you have been higher. Within the clutch moments, you delivered the products. For a younger participant like your self, this can be a nice function.″
The group pulled exhausting for Djokovic, who hadn’t performed in Miami since 2019. Greater than three-quarters of the followers caught round regardless of the large delay, chanting “No-vak!” and singing his identify throughout vital elements of the match.
Djokovic, removed from a fan favourite right here earlier in his profession, saluted the followers, saying it was one of many warmest crowds he has ever had.
However the males’s chief with 24 Grand Slam titles appeared compromised by his eye difficulty, with redness seen underneath the eyelid. Djokovic utilized eyedrops throughout two changeovers within the first set. It was unclear if it affected his imaginative and prescient.
Afterward, Djokovic mentioned he “actually prefers to not speak about” his eye, however mentioned “I did not really feel my biggest on the court docket.”
Djokovic known as it “a bizarre day.”
“It is the identical for each gamers,” he added. “You need to settle for the circumstances. I attempted to take advantage of out of what I had or was dealing with however, yeah, it was fairly totally different from another day of the match for me.”
Through the first set, he additionally slipped twice on the court docket. The humidity reached 90% 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 in October on the Shanghai Masters, however the teenager mentioned earlier than the match he had performed too nervously.
Mensik, who mentioned he almost pulled out of the match due to irritation in his proper knee, was enjoying his first ATP 1000 remaining. He was not fairly 2 years previous when Djokovic gained 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 entire recreation. His serve is unimaginable, highly effective, exact,” Djokovic mentioned.
There was extra fearlessness this time than in Shanghai. Mensik went up 3-0 with an early break, however Djokovic broke again at 4-3 then held for 4-4 after followers chanted his identify.
Mensik held for a 6-5 lead in a recreation that noticed Djokovic take a tumble within the doubles alley chasing a drop shot. Mensik served it out together 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. ET, however the gamers did not take the court docket till 8:37 p.m. due to the rain and organizers deciding on finishing the ladies’s doubles remaining.
The South Florida rain started at 12:50 p.m. in the course of the girls’s doubles remaining 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 court docket at 5:30 p.m. after the rain stopped and the courts have been readied by court-drying equipment. However rain started minutes later earlier than warmups and the umbrella-toting gamers left the court docket once more.
The ladies returned to the court docket an hour later and resumed play at 6:50 p.m. Andreeva and Schnaider went the gap, prevailing in a third-set match tiebreaker 6-3, 6-7 (5), 10-2.
The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
