Referee’s lunch break saved Miami Open champion Mensik from early exit

Czech teenager Jakub Mensik, who stunned Novak Djokovic in the Miami Open final on Sunday, said had it not been for a referee taking a timely lunch, he would have pulled out of the tournament before his first match.

Mensik, who won his first ATP tour title with the victory, said he suffered intense pain in his right knee during practice and could barely walk, let alone run.

The 19-year-old said that he had filled out his withdrawal form ahead of his match with Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut and went to the referee’s room — but the official was out for lunch.

“I was like OK, well let’s just visit the physios. I told them, ‘my knee is hurting, I filled out the paper and I’m going,’” Mensik told reporters.

“The physio said let’s see and he started to do a couple of treatments, he took care of it for like 30 minutes. He said it is nothing serious and you can play with this pain and nothing will happen,” he added.

But Mensik said, while the ref was eating lunch, he returned to the treadmill and was still in agony.

“I was really suffering. I took a different painkiller, switched it up a bit and started to feel a little relief. It was 30 minutes before the match, I thought ‘I can walk, I can run, let’s see.’”

Mensik won the match in three sets, beginning a run at Miami which saw him beat Indian Wells champion Jack Draper and — in the semi-final, world number four Taylor Fritz.

It was a tournament which showed the teenager’s huge potential and Mensik, who said emulating Djokovic had been his motivation for starting his career, wrote on the camera lens “First of many” as he left the court.

“Of course, right now, it’s the biggest win of my career so far, and I’m just super happy with that, but I know that this is not the end, I know that this is just the beginning for me, and I’m still 19 years old, so I have all my career in front of me,” he said.

“Of course it feels really great to have this trophy next to me, but it’s not just about the one title, one tournament.

“Now I will celebrate, rest, when I will get back home, I’m going back to work, and will try to get better and better, because still there is a lot of space for improvement in my game, so I and my team will do our best to lift these trophies more often,” he said.

Mensik was not even born when Djokovic played in his first ATP Masters 1000 event, a fact that, when pointed out to him, led Mensik to put his head in his hands.

“And he’s top five still. So it’s just crazy and unbelievable what he’s achieving in this sport during long period of the time,” he said.

“Imagine me in 20 years from now, which I will be 39 playing the finals? I hope so, but it’s crazy, to think about it like this.”

Meanwhile, Djokovic fell short in his bid to claim a 100th ATP title following a straight sets defeat but the Serb said losing to his protege made it a little easier to digest.

Djokovic was looking to join Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) as the only three men in the professional era with 100 or more titles, but the 37-year-old crashed 7-6(4) 7-6(4) in humid conditions after several hours of rain delays on Sunday.

Despite the disappointment, Djokovic said he was happy that the Mensik was delivering on his potential with his maiden title.

“I’m never really happy to lose, but he’s one of the very few players that I would be happier to lose to, to be honest,” Djokovic told reporters.

“I’ve seen him play when he was 15 or 16 and invited him. We had some training blocks together. He was training at my club in Belgrade (in 2022) and to see his development and evolution is really great, amazing.

“I could see back then already that he’s going to be one of the top players of the world. I’m super glad that he’s using the potential that he has, because he’s got the complete game.”

Djokovic said that Mensik would only get better after becoming the second youngest Miami champion since Carlos Alcaraz, who won the trophy in 2022 as an 18-year-old.

Agencies