"I couldn't walk, couldn't run" - Jakub Mensik reveals exactly what happened before Miami Open run and victory against Novak Djokovic
Jakub Mensik has shared the details of his knee injury that forced him to almost quit the 2025 Miami Open. The teenage champion revealed that he couldn’t walk or run before his campaign in the Floridian city.
Mensik stunned the tennis world on Sunday, March 30, clinching his maiden career title at the Masters 1000 in Miami. He secured a straight-sets win [7-6(4), 7-6(4)] over six-time champion Djokovic in the final. During his victory speech, the Czech player said that he planned to withdraw from the tournament just one hour before taking the court for his first match due to a nagging right knee issue.
When asked to elaborate on the injury, Jakub Mensik said at his press conference:
"Two days before the first match, I started to feel my knee. I checked with the doctors, with everyone. There was nothing spectacular. It was just a big inflammation, which was really big that I couldn't walk even, that I couldn't run, even walk."
He added that the condition failed to improve up until match day, despite his resorting to painkillers.
"I tried to step on the treadmill. I couldn't move. I was, like, 'Okay, well, that's it. I'm pulling out'. I didn't do anything," he said.
As it turned out, the Miami Open champion had his withdrawal form ready after attestation from the doctor’s office. Before handing in the document to the referee, though, he made a lucky detour to the ATP physios’ department.
"I was going to the physios while I was visiting the referees office to say, ‘Guys, I'm pulling out.’ He (the referee) was having lunch. So, okay, let's visit the physios first."
"I said, ‘Hey, my knee is hurting. Just fill the paper. I'm going.’ It was, like, ‘Well, okay, let's see,’" Jakub Mensik narrated.
Jakub Mensik reveals what the physio told him ahead of his miraculous Miami Open run
Although Jakub Mensik was skeptical about stepping out on the court for his first-ever Miami Open main-draw match, the physio insisted that he compete after understanding his injury and starting treatments.
"He started to do a couple of treatments, take care of me for 30 minutes. Okay, try this, try this, let's see," Jakub Mensik recalled in the aforementioned press conference.
"He was saying to me, ‘it's nothing serious. You can play with this pain and nothing can happen,’" he added.
The 19-year-old revealed that he initially saw no improvements in his mobility but eventually moved on despite the pain.
"I went over the pain. Really, I was suffering in those moments. After few minutes I was starting to feel little relief. Took different painkillers which helped a little bit."
Mensik’s situation gradually improved in the minutes leading up to his opening match against Roberto Bautista Agut. He beat the veteran 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
"30 minutes before the match, I can walk; I can run, let's see," he recalled. "Somehow, I won the first round, and basically then I had one day off, which of course for my knee was much better. Day by day the knee was getting better and with that also my game. Crazy, huh?"
En route to facing Novak Djokovic, Jakub Mensik beat newly-crowned Indian Wells champion Jack Draper in the second round before his wins against Roman Safiullin, Arthur Fils, and Taylor Fritz. After a successful fortnight in Miami, the Czech tennis player, who hadn’t cracked the top 30, has climbed to a career-best position of World No. 24.