Jakub Mensik has named Novak Djokovic the tennis GOAT after beating his idol and mentor in the Miami Open final. The highly-rated Czech teenager defeated the tennis icon in straight sets to claim his first WTA 1000 title.
Djokovic has mentored Mensik for three years after being impressed by his performance in the 2022 Australian Open boys’ final. They have trained together but this was their first competitive match against one another. Mensik thanked Djokovic for his support and labelled him the greatest tennis player of all time. Debate has often raged over who is the best player in history, with Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer all in the conversation.
Speaking on court, Mensik turned to his opponent and said: “Novak, everyone knows you’re the reason I’m here. I watched you growing up. I started playing tennis because of you. There is no harder task for a tennis player than to beat you in the final.
“Thank you so much for everything you’ve done in this sport and for everyone. You’re an incredible person. The greatest of all time.”
Djokovic said that while he was disappointed to win, he was delighted to see Mensik land a big victory. The Serb opened up on his relationship with the 19-year-old, who is 17 years his junior.
“I’m never really happy to lose, but he’s one of the very few players that I would be happier to lose to,” Djokovic said. “I’ve seen him play when he was 15 or 16. I invited him [to train], we had some training blocks together. He was training at my club in Belgrade and to see his development and evolution is really great.
“I could see back then already that – three to four years ago – that he’s going to be one of the top players of the world. So I’m super glad that he’s using the potential that he has because he’s got the complete game.
“Obviously serve is incredible, powerful, precise and wins a lot of free points with the first serve. 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. And he still can improve, of course, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing him around.”
Asked why he wanted to mentor Mensik, Djokovic revealed: “I loved the fighting spirit when he was down in that final in Australia I saw (the 2022 Australian Open boys’ final).
“Obviously big game, seemed like a nice guy, Eastern European. So I gave a call through management, my management to his management. We found a connection, he accepted to come, so we had like three training blocks together.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk