Teenager Jakub Mensik stuns Novak Djokovic to claim Miami Open title

The unheralded Mensik became the latest player to hold off Djokovic's 100th ATP Tour singles title celebrations after he upset the tennis great in the Miami Open final.

And the Czech youngster has revealed that he nearly didn't compete at the ATP Masters 1000 event as he was struggling with an injury.

The unseeded Mensik stunned 24-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic 7-6(7-4), 7-6(7-4) in the Florida final to win not only his maiden Masters title, but also lift his first ATP singles trophy.

It was a magical run from the 19-year-old, but he came close to withdrawing from the tournament due to a knee injury.

During the post-match presentation ceremony, he explained: "Big special thanks to one of the ATP physios, Alejandro. One hour before my first match here I was holding the paper to pull out from the tournament because my knee was hurting a lot.

"I was just lucky that the referee was having lunch. Then for the last time I came for the treatment. He did a miracle. Because of him I stepped on the court. Because of him I'm standing here."

Mensik ended up beating Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round, sixth seed and Indian Wells Open champion Jack Draper in the second round and Roman Safiullin in the third round.

He then had a walkover in the fourth round when compatriot Tomas Machac withdrew before getting the better of 17th seed Arthur Fils in the quarter-final. The Czech then upset fourth seed Taylor Fritz to reach his maiden Masters 1000 final.

But the best was yet to come as he denied all-time great Djokovic â- who has been stuck on 99 ATP titles since he won the 2024 Paris Olympics singles final against Carlos Alcaraz â- in the Miami Open showpiece match.

With the win, world no 54 Mensik became only the second player outside the top 50 in the ATP Rankings to beat Djokovic in a final with Stan Wawrinka the only other player to achieve the milestone.

The then-ranked world No 69 Wawrinka defeated the Serbian in the Umag final back in 2006.

But Mensik â- who has surged to a career-high No 24 in the ATP Rankings after his feat â- was full of praise for the man he idolised when growing up, stating: "When I was young I started to play tennis because of you.

"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 is also only the fourth player in ATP Tour history to win their maiden singles trophy at a Masters 1000 event.

The first was Roberto Carretero when he won the final in Hamburg in 1996 and the following hear Chris Woodruff won in Montreal. Alberto Portas joined the list in 2001 when he also won in Hamburg before Mensik made it a four-man club with his win over Djokovic in Miami.

READ MORE: Zsolt Low takes charge of RB Leipzig in bold move to salvage season