%LEAGUE_NAME% Tennis Draws

Midon Lautaro2

Kestelboim, Mariano0

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Second Serve: Your new weekly tennis briefing

Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka strengthen top spots, plus Emma Raducanu's run - the latest edition of our weekly tennis round-up.

1 day ago

Novak Djokovic reacts to shock Miami Open Final loss to Jakub Mensik

The tennis great was the overwhelming favourite ahead of the encounter as he was playing in his 60th ATP Masters 1000 final while it was a debut appearance for Mensik. Djokovic was victorious in 40 of those 60 finals and he was gunning for his 100th ATP Tour singles trophy while his teenage rival was in search of a maiden top-level title. Rain caused havoc in Miami and the showpiece match was delayed for six hours, but once they got going Mensik was just too strong during the tie-breakers as he won 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4). "It's unfortunate for me. Two tie-breaks, just very weird match, weird day with rain delay and all the things that is happening," Djokovic said. "Honestly, yeah, I didn't feel my greatest on the court, but it is what it is. Nothing to take away from his victory." But other than the "weird" comment, Djokovic spent most of the press conference praising rising star Mensik as he explained that he knew the talented teen would become a "top player" when they trained at his academy in Serbia. The Czech started the tournament at No 54 in the ATP Rankings, but he is now on the cusp of making his top 20 breakthrough as he sits at a new career-high of 24. "Never really happy to lose, but he's one of the very few players that I would be happier to lose to, to be honest," the 24-time Grand Slam winner said. "I have seen him play when he was 15 or 16 and invited him, we had some training blocks together. He was training at my club in Belgrade, and, you know, to see his development and evolution is really great, amazing. "I could see back then already that three, four years ago that he's going to be, you know, one of the top players of the world. I'm super glad that he's using the potential that he has, because he's got the complete game. Obviously his serve is incredible, powerful, precise, wins a lot of free points with the first serve. "Backhand, as well, you know. Czech school, they always have a great backhand (smiling). But forehand, he's improved a lot. And movement for a tall, big guy like that, he slides and moves well. "He still can improve, of course. So I'm sure we'll be seeing him around." Djokovic spotted Mensik's potential in the 2022 Australian Open Boys' singles final when he lost against Bruno Kuzuhara. After a couple of phone calls, the Czech agreed to attend a training camp in Belgrade. "I loved the fighting spirit, you know, when he was down in that finals I saw in Australia, and obviously big game," he explained. "Seemed like a nice guy, Eastern European. I gave a call through management, my management, his management, and we found, yeah, a connection. He accepted to come. "We had, like, three training blocks together. And actually, his physio who is with him now was my physio, Serbian guy. There are a lot of connecting things that we have in common. So as I said, you know, big game, big potential. I'm sure that he's got a bright future."

1 day ago