Mensiks Downs Djokovic in Miami for Maiden Masters 1000 Title - Perfect Tennis

Jakub Mensik is the 2025 Miami Open champion, overcoming a nearly six-hour rain delay and a history-chasing Novak Djokovic to win his first ATP Tour title with a 7-6(4), 7-6(4) upset over the six-time champion.

At 19 years and six months, Mensik became the second-youngest titlist in Miami history behind Carlos Alcaraz (2022), and the first Czech to win a Masters 1000 event since Tomas Berdych in Paris 2005, denying Djokovic his 100th tour-level title.

A 20-year gap between titles for a country with a player production line is hard to believe! Is Mensik another Berdych or can he kick on?

Mensik, who’s delivered sledgehammer serving all week, surged to a 3-0 lead, breaking Djokovic early. The Serbian had problems with a right-eye issue, which we’ve seen before.

The eye drops seemed to help, but despite Djokovic breaking back and leveling the set, Mensik dominated the first tiebreak, racing to 5/0 and sealing it 7-4 with an overhead, roaring to his box.

The second set saw Djokovic find his rhythm, but Mensik’s serve was rock solid. He faced just one break point, won 77% of his first-serve points, and went a perfect 7-0 in tiebreaks for the tournament.

Djokovic is typically the tie-break beast, boasting a career 66% win rate, but his game didn’t have its typical solidity in the big moments. Mensik, however, stayed ice-cool, converting his second match point with an unreturnable serve.

Mensik climbs to a career-high No. 24 in the ATP Rankings, passing Jiri Lehecka as the No. 2 Czech behind Tomas Machac.

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. It was not the first time I’ve played against Novak. There is no harder task in tennis than to beat him in the finals. But of course I felt really great and it’s my time, so I just tried to focus on the match like I did before in previous rounds.Mensik in his on court interview.

Day Twelve 2025 Miami Open Final Result

Winner
Loser
Scoreline

Jakub Mensik
Novak Djokovic (4)
7-6(4), 7-6(4)

Thoughts on the Final

I said in the comments on my previous post that I expected Djokovic to win, but would not be surprised to see Mensik on the winners podium, as I wasn’t sure if Novak was ready to win a big title.

Novak’s trajectory had looked good during the week, but he wasn’t overly tested, and we saw in Shanghai last year that Mensik is more than capable.

That is pretty much how things went. If you look at the stats, there is nothing to separate them. Novak beats many players with those numbers, but the fact that he could only create one break point in the match is a testament to how well Mensik served and played the big moments.

The 6-hour rain delay wasn’t good for either player, but I think it’s more negative for Djokovic. Mensik is younger and fresher and has flat, heavy ball striking that lends itself well to nighttime conditions in Miami.

Playing Novak at any time of day in a final is no easy task though, yet Mensik was all business. There was no putting Djoker on a pedestal or coming up short in the clutch. Just rock-solid play throughout from a serve bot that can also move/rally, which is a rarity.

Should we get carried away with his performance? I don’t think so. When Berdych won Paris in 2005, he was massively hyped yet never repeated that feat, losing all three of the other Masters 1000 finals he played over the next 14 years.

Two weeks ago, Mensik was losing in straight sets against Damir Dzhumur in the Cap Cana challenger. I think he has huge upside to his game, but Masters 1000 titles out of the blue don’t guarantee success, and sometimes slower progress a la Jack Draper is more of an indicator.