Journey To Jeddah: Top 50 Mensik leads 'new blood'
Czech star Jakub Mensik accomplished the biggest goal of his 2024 season by qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF for the first time. Now the 19-year-old wants the trophy in Jeddah.
Mensik reached his first ATP Tour final in February at the age of 18, beating Andy Murray, Andrey Rublev and Gael Monfils to advance to the title match in Doha. That run made him the first player born in 2005 or later to reach a tour-level final. While he was edged by Karen Khachanov in the championship match, his breakout week earned him a debut in the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings.
“That was amazing. It’s a really good feeling that in this young age I can compete with the best players,” he said in filming for the ATP Tour’s Journey to Jeddah series, “All these small details, all these small things and experiences are pushing me higher in my career.”
Since that week, Mensik has competed exclusively at tour-level. He will enter Jeddah inside the Top 50 behind recent quarter-final runs at the Rolex Shanghai Masters — where he took a set off Novak Djokovic — and Vienna.
The big stages of the ATP Tour are a long way from the neighbourhood courts in front of his childhood home in of Prostejov, Czechia, where Mensik learned the game from the age of four. He was hooked from the beginning, his love of the game deepened by his obvious talent.
<img alt=”Jakub Mensik” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/11/15/18/26/mensik-journey-jeddah-2.jpg” />
Prostejov is famous for tennis, his father Michal explained, home to one of three national tennis centers in Czechia. The small town now has an even bigger tennis footprint thanks to Mensik’s rise — but the local hero is far from satisfied.
“Tennis is improving every year, every season, so it’s very important to try to be better than the generation before us,” Mensik said, noting his admiration for past Next Gen ATP Finals champs like Stefanos Tsitsipas (2018), Jannik Sinner (2019), Carlos Alcaraz (2021).
“Tennis fans like new blood,” he added. “They want to know who is coming next.”
An all-court player with a big serve, the Czech is eager to make his own mark at the very top of the ATP Tour. He sees Jeddah as the perfect stepping stone.
“It’s really great that the ATP gives the young players the opportunity to see how it works at [one of] the most beautiful ATP events and tournaments on tour,” he said. “We’ll see, but I want to win also, of course.”
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