Riding a wave of momentum and giant-slaying performances at the 2025 Miami Open, 19-year-old Jakub Mensik was the name on everyone’s lips. The Czech teenager’s impressive run saw him dispatch the reigning Indian Wells champion, Jack Draper, followed by victories over Arthur Fils and then a stunning semi-final win against world number 4, Taylor Fritz. Even Fritz himself seemed to sense something special, remarking after his loss, “I think he might have a chance to beat Djokovic.” Just two days later, Mensik proved that prediction right, stunning the six-time Miami Open champion, Novak Djokovic, in straight sets to become the first teenager ever to achieve such a feat in a completed tour-level match. Even Coco Gauff‘‘s former coach is praising the youngster.

Coming from a country that has a long list of promising tennis players, although primarily on the WTA, including two-time Grand Slam champion Petra Kvitova, Mensik has now already announced his name on the bigger stages of the game. Speaking about his tennis idol, he once said, “My tennis inspiration is Novak Djokovic. Because of him, I started to play tennis. He is my biggest idol.” In Miami, he not only got the chance to play against his idol in a do-or-die clash, but also managed to defeat him by 7-6(4),7-6(4).

After seeing this impressive performance, Brad Gilbert came up with a tweet hailing the teenager’s brilliance in Miami. He wrote, “standing ovation 👏 for Mansik, came into @MiamiOpen with 8-6 record on the year, the 19-year-old gets his 1st @atptour 🏆 taking out Djoker 👊😎👌👍 💪 Holy Toledo.” With this win, he has not only taken his win-loss record to 14-6 this season, but Mensik will now also climb to a career-high ranking of number 24 on Monday.

Fun fact: Even during the 2024 AO, Gilbert shared a tweet claiming, “Mensik is a baller.”

This was his second meeting, that marked an 18-year difference between them—the biggest age gap in an ATP Masters 1000 final, with Djokovic, and currently, he has managed to level the H2H record at 1-1. Like Gilbert, another tennis legend, Patrick McEnroe, came up with a tweet saying, “Wow. Mensik unreal. He wins @MiamiOpen over @DjokerNole 7-6 7-6 Title 100 will have to wait.”

The match was delayed for almost six hours due to rain, and perhaps this gave the teenager plenty of time to think and strategize his game against one of the finest on the hard courts. Interestingly, Jakub Mensik claimed that he was about to pull out of the tournament an hour before his first match.

“One hour before my first match here I was holding the paper to pull out from the tournament,” Mensik said. “I was just lucky that the referee was having lunch. I came for the treatment. He did a miracle and because of him I’m standing here.” Two weeks later, Mensik received the winner’s trophy from James Blake, the tournament director.

With this incredible win against Djokovic, he has not only become the second-youngest titlist in Miami, but Mensik is now also the first player from his country to win an ATP Masters 1000 event since Tomas Berdych (2005).

What did both players say after this match, though?

Novak Djokovic’s first reaction after his defeat to the 19-year-old Jakub Mensik

As a result of this defeat, Novak Djokovic has now failed to join Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) as the only men in the Open Era with 100 or more career titles. Despite playing with a swollen eye, the Serb gave a tough fight to Jakub Mensik, forcing him to go to tie-breaks in both sets. 

“This is Jakub’s moment — moment of his team, moment of his family. Congratulations, unbelievable tournament. It hurts me to admit it, 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,” said Djokovic. 

Considering his past statements about Novak Djokovic being his idol and his dream to play against him, this victory must be an incredibly euphoric and surreal moment for Jakub Mensik. “To be honest, I don’t know what to say. It feels incredible, obviously. It was probably the biggest day of my 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,” said the 19-year-old Miami Open champion.

Mensik yet again reflected his love and admiration for the 24-time Grand Slam champion during his post-match interview: “Novak, everyone knows you’re the one… the reason I’m here. I watched you growing up. I started to play tennis because of you.” The Czech also admitted that there are no harder tasks in tennis than beating Novak Djokovic in the finals. He even thanked Djokovic for all the things that he has done for the spot and hailed him as the G.O.A.T. after this match.

Mensik has already claimed that he has no intention of slowing down his rapid rise. But what are your thoughts on Mensik’s incredible performance in Miami, though?