"I don’t know": Despite Miami Open triumph, Andy Roddick remains unsure of Jakub Mensik's potential

Former world number one Andy Roddick has not been entirely convinced with the Czech Republic’s young tennis sensation Jakub Mensik despite his heroics in the Miami Open. The 19-year-old produced arguably his best performance in professional tennis to date as he lifted the ATP 1000 event after beating Serbia’s legendary tennis star and the former world number one Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in the final in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 7-6.

On his way to the grand finale of the competition, Mensik secured some crucial victories. He defeated the reigning world number six and Indian Wells champion, Britain’s Jack Draper, in the round of 64 in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 7-6. In the semifinal, Mensik produced a major upset as he defeated the 2024 US Open runner-up, America’s Taylor Fritz, with a score of 7-6, 4-6, 7-6.

However, it seems that all those performances have failed to impress former world number one Roddick. The one-time Grand Slam winner, while speaking in his own podcast named ‘Served with Andy Roddick', stated that Mensik’s win in Miami was largely down to the fact that the surface was ‘great’ for him. The 42-year-old was of the opinion that he needs to see more of the 19-year-old, especially in the upcoming grass court season, to make up his mind about him.

“I don’t know you can just assume that Mensik is going to win every breaker he plays for the rest of time,” he said. “I think that specific surface was great for him. I think he can improve second serve. I still think you know, can he just take pot shots and land them on other surfaces, I don’t think so. I want to see him on grass. I don’t know what that would looks like. You would think that it would be good but grass is kind of a weird specific surface, a lot of it has to do with the movement.”