Miami champion Mensik says he almost pulled out before tournament with knee issue
The 19-year-old said he was ready to withdraw on the eve of the event but the referee was at lunch, so he had some more treatment and began to improve
Marta Lavandier/AP/SIPA
Czech teenager Jakub Mensik completed the best two weeks of his tennis life on Sunday night when he beat Novak Djokovic 7-6, 7-6 to win the Miami Open, his first title of any kind on the ATP Tour.
And the 19-year-old revealed that his stunning success almost didn’t happen due to a niggling knee issue that cropped up on the eve of the event, and but for a stroke of luck, he would not even have played the event.
“Two days before the first match, I started to feel my (right) knee,” he told reporters after the final, a win that moves him to up a new career-high ranking of 24. “I checked with the doctors, with everyone. There was nothing spectacular. It was just a big inflammation, which was really big that I couldn’t walk even, that I couldn’t run, even walk.
“I started to treat it, started to take painkillers. Nothing was helping. During the match day it was the same (as) the day before. I tried to step on the treadmill. I couldn’t move. I was, like, OK, well, that’s it. I’m pulling out.
“I just went to the doctor’s office, take the paper (saying he was withdrawing). I was going to the physios while I was visiting the referees office to say, ‘guys, I’m pulling out’. But he (the referee) was having lunch. So, OK, let’s visit the physios first. I was there. I said, Hey, my knee is hurting. Just fill the paper. I’m going. I’m going.”
Day by day improvement
The doctor told Mensik that the injury was “nothing serious” and that he could “play with this pain and nothing can happen.”
As the painkillers kicked in, so Mensik thought he would give it a go and he came through his first-round match with Roberto Bautista Agut, winning in three sets.
“Somehow I won the first round, and basically then I had one day off, which of course for my knee was much more better. Day by day the knee was getting better and with that also my game. Crazy, huh?”
“He’s the reason I play tennis”
Mensik said Djokovic was the reason he became a tennis player.
“I was watching him, you know, growing up,” he said. “Because of him basically I started to play tennis. It just feels incredible that I had the opportunity for a second time to play against him. And to beat him in this tournament in the finals, which I really, it was just a dream to win an ATP tournament, and even better that it’s a 1000. Playing against Novak in the finals makes it more special.”
And the 19-year-old said he was already thinking ahead, having written on the camera: “1st of many” after his win.
“Right now it’s biggest win of my career so far, and I’m just super happy with that,” he said. “But I know that this is not the end, and I know that this is just the beginning for me.
“I’m still 19 years old, so I have all of my career in front of me. Of course it feels really great to have this (trophy) next to me, but it’s not just about the one title, one tournament, but, you know, I’m hungry for more.
“Of course right now I will celebrate, rest. When I will come back home, I’m going back to work and try to get better and better, because still there is a lot of space for improvement in my game, so I will, me and my team, will do my best to lift these trophies more often.”
