Jakub Mensik nearly withdrew from the 2025 Miami Open with an inflamed knee. He stayed, and the 19-year-old Czech went on to beat Novak Djokovic, his childhood idol, 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in the final, taking his first title and denying Djokovic a 100th. The scoreline fit the game: at 6ft 5in Mensik is built around one of the heaviest serves in tennis, a delivery that drags even elite returners into tiebreaks and makes him a threat on any hard court.
The follow-up made Miami look like a beginning. Mensik opened 2026 with the title in Auckland, beat world No. 2 Jannik Sinner in Doha, and reached a career-high No. 12 in March. At Roland Garros he outlasted Andrey Rublev in five sets, the youngest Czech man in a Grand Slam quarter-final since Ivan Lendl in 1980, then went one round further to his first major semi-final before Alexander Zverev stopped him. Born in September 2005, he has the serve already; the rest of the game keeps catching up.
Eleven. That is where Rafael Jodar stands on the ATP rankings after his Montreal semi-final, up from 15 and the best ranking of his career. He is 19, the youngest man in the top 20, and Learner Tien, 20, sits one place behind him at 12 after losing his own semi-final, also a career best, up from 19.
Ranking taleZero. That is how many break points Ben Shelton faced in the Montreal final. He beat Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 7-6(4) for the National Bank Open title, holding all 10 of his service games and never once letting Nakashima near the serve.
Match tale