Jakub Mensik explains how Novak Djokovic managed to really surprise him

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Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic has been an icon of the sport for more than a decade.

The 36-year-old is often regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles, something that has never been achieved in the Open era.

Not only has Djokovic has been a phenomenal player on the court but time and again he has shown a willingness to pass his skills on to the younger players on tour.

The Belgrade-born star did something similar back in 2022 when he contacted young Czech tennis sensation Jakub Mensik.

Jakub Mensik reveals how special it was to work with Novak Djokovic

At the time Mensik was only breaking through in the junior ranks and he had hardly become a household name.

But Djokovic clearly took a shine to the hot-prospect, having watched him play. And the 18-year-old, while talking to French publication L’Equipe recently, revealed how special it was to work with his ‘childhood idol’.

“I first thought it was a hoax, but it was really him,” he said. “Novak is my childhood idol, you can imagine my joy,” said Mensik. “Weight, lunch, recovery… Everything he did, I did.

“I understood a lot of things there. I observed him, I tried to analyse his functioning, how he warms up, stretches, recovers. He recommended them (contacts) to us and gave us their number. Many things we put in place were thanks to him.”

Jakub Mensik’s big wins already

Mensik’s profile is now far more well known than it was when Djokovic initially called him, as he is now having a fine breakthrough season on tour.

Mensik has already registered wins against the likes of the former world number one and three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray, current world number eight Russia’s Andrey Rublev, former world number six France’s Gael Monfils and Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.

The teenager is also youngest player currently featuring in the ATP top 100 players list. He currently sits in 74th spot on the rankings list.

Those numbers and wins against some of the top players clearly show that Mensik is a special talent and after some words of advice from Djokovic, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the pair could face off against each other at some stage in the near future.