He started the year at 167th position in the ATP ranking but, thanks to a season played with consistency in performance and results, Jakub Mensik is about to end it in the top 50 in the world.
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The Czech tennis player, at just 19 years old, is already obtaining very positive results. Already a finalist at the ATP 250 in Doha in February, the growth of the young tennis player has been slowed down by a few too many injuries and two withdrawals this year.
The 19-year-old gave his latest demonstration of his skills at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, where he beat Andrey Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov in series, earning a dream quarterfinal with Novak Djokovic. The victories obtained at the Chinese tournament allowed the Czech to obtain an extraordinary result in terms of precocity, achieved in the new millennium by only five other tennis players before him.
For Mensik, the one against Dimitrov was the fourth victory of the year against top-10 tennis players in the ATP ranking. In fact, it is the second victory against the Bulgarian, to which are added the two successes with Andrey Rublev in Doha and in the 2nd round of the same Chinese tournament currently underway. Mensik became only the sixth under-21 player since 2000 to obtain this number of consecutive victories against tennis players classified in the top 10 of the ATP ranking.
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Before him, only Lleyton Hewitt, Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune had achieved this feat. A result that highlights the qualities of the young Czech, who could soon make the definitive leap in quality towards the top of world tennis.
Mansik is a tennis player who, despite being very tall and a big server, combines power with great agility and a good touch, which allow him to move with ease and to withstand even hard exchanges from the baseline.
So, a new wind is blowing on the ATP Tour. In 2024 the Next Gen are finally emerging. Juncheng Shang became the second Chinese tennis player ever to win an ATP singles title, after Wu Yibing, and the youngest tennis player to win a title this year. The Brazilian Joao Fonseca, 18 years old, currently number 157 ATP, and already defined by many as the new Jannik Sinner.
