Czech teenager Jakub Mensik grew up idolizing Novak Djokovic. On Sunday in Miami, after a more than five-and-a-half hour rain delay, the 19-year-old from Prostejov denied his hero a milestone victory with one of his own.

With a 7-6(4), 7-6(4) win in the final of the Miami Open, Mensik captured his first career ATP singles title at any level, and stopped Djokovic from joining the exclusive club of men who’ve won 100 or more singles titles in tennis history, which currently is made up of only Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer. The 6-foot-4 right-hander, born 20 years ago while Djokovic was in the midst of making his US Open debut, is the first man from his nation to win a Masters 1000 title since Tomas Berdych in 2005.

In a final which featured the largest age gap at a Masters 1000 event since the series began in 1990, and biggest in nearly 50 years, Mensik didn’t look like a player who was playing a junior Grand Slam final just three years ago, and only made his first tour-level final last year. He served 14 aces against arguably the greatest returner in tennis history, and kept Djokovic off-balance with a barrage of heavy grounstrokes to boot. He sprinted out to a 3-0 lead, and regrouped when Djokovic won four of the next five games to level, and stayed composed when the biggest moments came.

Mensik is the ninth-youngest ATP Masters 1000 champion in series history and second-youngest in Miami behind Carlos Alcaraz, who was 18 when he won in 2022.

More to come…