By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday March 30, 2025
Although Sunday was a troublesome day for Novak Djokovic in Miami, as he fell brief in his bid for his a centesimal profession title in two tight units to Jakub Mensik, the Grand Slam king was all class on the court docket and within the pressroom as he praised the 19-year-old Czech, whom he has mentored for a number of years now.
“By no means actually pleased to lose, however he is one of many only a few gamers that I’d be happier to lose to, to be sincere,” Djokovic instructed reporters “I’ve seen him play when he was 15 or 16 and invited him, we had some coaching blocks collectively. He was coaching at my membership in Belgrade. To see his improvement and evolution is absolutely nice, wonderful.”
Mensik has proven gratitude to Djokovic for taking him below his wing. Anybody who watched the pair work together after the ultimate may see that the respect and admiration he has for the Serbian icon is nice.
Correct respect 🙏@mensik_jakub_ & @DjokerNole present us what it is all about.#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/tMlUvgmvkl
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 31, 2025
Djokovic says that he may see very early on that Mensik had what it takes to be a prime participant.
“I may see again then already that three, 4 years in the past that he’ll be one of many prime gamers of the world,” he mentioned. “I am tremendous glad that he is utilizing the potential that he has, as a result of he is acquired the whole recreation. Clearly his serve is unimaginable: highly effective, exact, wins a whole lot of free factors with the primary serve.”
Mensik served lights out in opposition to one of the best returner on the earth on Sunday in Miami, however he used extra than simply the serve to recover from the road in opposition to Djokovic.
Djokovic mentioned {the teenager}’s forehand is considered one of his most improved pictures. Neither wing broke down below excessive stress from Djokovic because the 37-year-old tried to drive a 3rd set.
“Backhand, as properly – Czech college, they at all times have an ideal backhand,” Djokovic mentioned. “However forehand, he is improved loads. And motion for a tall, massive man like that, he slides and strikes properly.
LOVED THE FIGHTING SPIRIT
Djokovic mentioned he was impressed whereas watching Mensik as a junior in 2022, when the Czech had full physique cramps throughout a protracted battle with Bruno Kuzuhara within the Boys ultimate that 12 months.
Djokovic contacted him after that match and invited him to coach with him. They’ve been involved – and have skilled collectively periodically – ever since.
“I liked the preventing spirit when he was down in that ultimate I noticed in Australia, and clearly massive recreation. Appeared like a pleasant man, Jap European. I gave a name via my administration, his administration, and we discovered a connection. He accepted to return.
“We had three coaching blocks collectively. And really, his physio who’s with him now was my physio, Serbian man. There are a whole lot of connecting issues that we now have in frequent. In order I mentioned, massive recreation, massive potential. I am certain that he is acquired a vivid future.”
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;
n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,
document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1846407775622432’); // Insert your pixel ID here.
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
Source link
