Mensik's 2024: Injury, recovery, studying, tinkering & thriving

Few 18-year-olds have had as eventful of a year as #NextGenATP star Jakub Mensik. From a Top 100 breakthrough to an elbow injury and final exams, there has been no shortage of key moments for the Czech teen.

But Mensik is enjoying the ride and it is showing in his performance. The fourth-placed player in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah can hit a high if he defeats Tristan Schoolkate Thursday to reach the third round of the US Open for the second consecutive year. These are the opportunities the teen lives for.

“I’ve loved tennis from a young age. So that was my dream, always, to play in these big tournaments. And if I win, I win. If I lose, I lose, it doesn't matter. Without losses, there are no victories, and that's my motto,” Mensik said. “I know that after every loss, I have to keep working, keep staying focused, because at the end of the tournament, there can only be one winner, so that's it. I realised that, and that's why I'm trying to show my best performance. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's not, but that's how it works.”

Mensik is still new on the ATP Tour. One year ago, he was No. 206 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Now, he is No. 65. But a lot has happened in 12 months.

The Czech reached an ATP Challenger Tour final to begin his 2024 season and then qualified for the Australian Open, where he reached the second round of the main draw. In February, the teen advanced to his first ATP Tour final in Doha.

As the clay-court season approached, things got tricky. Mensik struggled with an elbow injury. His coach, Tomas Josefus, explained that avoiding injury was one of the team's main foci.

“Jakub is still only 18 years old, so he is in this developing age, not fully developed as a man. Somebody asked me last season what was our first priority for [the] next season and my answer was, ‘injury prevention’. And I didn’t know at this moment of time that we [would] have to handle this type of situation,” Josefus said. “We had to visit so many doctors, so many physiotherapists, other specialists. We have to listen to a lot of these guys. But we put all the necessary pieces together so Jakub had to improve his serve motion, in terms of his technique.”

According to Mensik, the biomechanics of his serve was the main reason he got hurt.

“After that, I changed the biomechanics a bit,” Mensik said. “But the game style, it's the same. So no changes at all. But of course, I'm improving every week. I try to improve myself. And it's always, not just in one specific stroke.”

It is not easy to overhaul a stroke, especially at the top of the sport. Mensik and his team worked with Mark Kovacs to do so.

“He helped us a lot because he has a great programme,” Josefus said. “[For] Jakub, it’s relatively small changes so we discussed everything with Mark and Jakub is very good with this coordination stuff to improve relatively fast.

“We had to change the serve motion altogether.”

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Mensik played just two events during the clay-court season: Madrid and Rome. He ended up not just missing out on the action, but spending the time he was hurt studying for his final exams in Czech language, English, then geography and theory of sport preparation.

“It was super difficult in that time. I was also doing final exams in school, so that was also a big part of my life, because before a Grand Slam I had final exams, and I had the elbow [injury],” Mensik said. “I was really, really, nervous… But I think that we made a good decision that I stayed focused on school at that time and skipped Roland Garros.

“Of course, it was a difficult decision, but I have to say now that it was a very good decision. And after that, of course I was much more happier to play on the court, pain free. And obviously, with straight A's in school.”

Josefus added: “Jakub finished his school and I’m very happy because it’s not so easy, school, and he received four A’s for his last examinations. In the middle of the season, together with the problems with the arm, he had to study, so [it was a] tough schedule.”

To add even more to the mix, Mensik changed his racquet specs. He earlier this season switched to an 18x19 string pattern compared to 18x20 from last season. The 18-year-old is also using more static weight, but the balance point is closer to the handle and therefore the racquet is more head light.

“Jakub prefers for his game [the] balance [to be] relatively head heavier,” Josefus said. “But again we adapted to this new situation [with his elbow] and we are very lucky that we had the chance to discuss with Roman Prokes. Roman comes from Czechoslovakia and he lived so many years in Europe.

“He also travelled with Andre Agassi. He customised racquets for so many great players, Novak Djokovic as well. He designed [Jakub’s] current racquet. He’s the best and we are lucky we have connections to these guys.”

Josefus has kept in consistent contact with Prokes, including when Mensik struggled with his elbow. That injury is now behind him, and the #NextGenATP star continues to push forward.

According to Josefus, there is "not such a big difference" in Mensik's game. But with much more experience and a far higher PIF ATP Ranking, the 18-year-old is chasing another big result in New York.

“It’s about only small, small details, but we are working a lot, [working] very hard to improve small aspects of his game," Josefus said. "After the injury during [this] season, Jakub struggled with his arm and I’m super happy that he came back and that he can play here at a Grand Slam event.”

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