Jakub Mensik prevents Djokovic from his 100th title, wins Miami Open for first ATP trophy

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Novak Djokovic faced a series of obstacles Sunday in the Miami Open final: a delay of more than 5 1/2 hours before the match, an eye infection and a slippery court due to high levels of humidity following the rain.

But the largest roadblock was the youth and power of 6-foot-4, 19-year-old phenom Jakub Mensik, who outdueled the 37-year-old Serbian 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) to win his first ATP title.

Ranked 54th entering the tournament, the Czech Republic teenager plowed through Djokovic with poise and a stellar 130 mph serve. He collected 14 aces and got broken only once. Mensik bashed a service winner on match point and fell on his back.

"You’re the one I idolized when I was young," Mensik said to Djokovic during the ceremony after the match that lasted 2 hours, 3 minutes. “I started playing tennis because of you."

Mensik’s victory spoiled the party for Djokovic, who was seeking his 100th career title and a record seventh in the Miami Open. Djokovic will have to wait, while the teenager looks ready to join the elite.

“This is a joyous moment for him and his family — an unbelievable tournament, first of many," Djokovic said. “It hurts me to admit it, you were better. In the clutch moments you delivered the goods. For a young player like yourself, this is a great feature."

The crowd pulled hard for Djokovic, who hadn’t played here since 2019. More than three-quarters of the fans stuck around despite the massive delay, chanting “No-vak!" and singing his name across critical parts of the match.

Djokovic, far from a fan favorite here earlier in his career, saluted the fans, saying it was one of the warmest crowds he’s had ever.

But the men’s leader with 24 Grand Slam titles seemed compromised by his eye issue, with redness seen under the eyelid. Djokovic applied eyedrops during two changeovers in the first set. It was unclear if it affected his vision.

Afterward, Djokovic said he “really prefers not to talk about" his eye, but said “I didn’t feel my greatest on the court."

Djokovic called it “a weird day."

“It’s the same for both players," he added. “You have to accept the circumstances. I tried to make the most out of what I had or was facing but, yeah, it was quite different from any other day of the tournament for me."

During the set, he also slipped twice on the court. The humidity reached 90% after hours of rain disrupted the card. Sweating profusely, Djokovic asked the umpire for a bucket of sawdust to sprinkle on his wet grip.

Mensik had lost to Djokovic in a three-setter last October at the Shanghai Masters but the youngster said before the match he had played too nervously.

Mensik was playing his first ATP 1000 final. He was not quite 2 years old when Djokovic won his first Miami Open title in 2007.

Djokovic knew Mensik’s potential after inviting him to his camp in Belgrade to train when the prodigy was 16.

“He has the complete game. His serve is incredible, powerful, precise,” Djokovic said.

There was more fearlessness this time than in Shanghai. Mensik got up 3-0 with an early break but Djokovic broke back at 4-3, then held for 4-4 after fans chanted his name.

Mensik held for a 6-5 lead in a game that saw Djokovic take a tumble in the doubles alley chasing a drop shot. Mensik served it out with his seventh ace.

In the first-set tiebreak, Mensik charged ahead 5-0. Mensik executed a leaping backhand volley winner and Djokovic muffed a routine forehand drop shot into the net to fall behind 5-0. On set point, Mensik slugged an overhead smash for a winner.

The match was scheduled for 3 p.m. but the players didn’t take the court until 8:37 p.m. due to rain and organizers deciding on completing the women’s doubles final.

The South Florida rain began at 12:50 p.m. during the women’s doubles final pitting Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider against Cristina Bucsa and Miyu Kato, with Andreeva and Shnaider leading 3-0 in the first set.

The women’s players returned to the court at 5:30 p.m. after the rain stopped and the courts were readied by court-drying machinery. But rain began minutes later before warmups and the umbrella-toting players left the court again.

The women returned to the court an hour later and resumed play at 6:50 p.m. Andreeva and Schnaider went the distance, prevailing in a third-set match tiebreaker 6-3, 6-7 (5), 10-2.

This story has corrected the spelling to Mensik. A previous version said Mensuk.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, plays a shot against Jakub Mensik, of Czech Republic, in the men's singles final match at the Miami Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Jakub Mensik, of Czech Repbulic, plays a shot to Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, in the men's singles final match at the Miami Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Jakub Mensik, of Czech Repbulic, plays a shot against Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, in the men's singles final match at the Miami Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, lies on the court after slipping and falling, as he plays Jakub Mensik, of Czech Repbulic, in the men's singles final match at the Miami Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, slips and falls as he plays Jakub Mensik, of Czech Repbulic, in the men's singles final match at the Miami Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Diana Shnaider, left, and Mirra Andreeva pose with the Butch Buchholz Championship Trophy after defeating Cristina Bucsa, of Spain, and Miyu Kato, of Japan, in the women's doubles final match at the Miami Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Fans watch the women's doubles final match between Cristina Bucsa, of Spain, and Miyu Kato, of Japan, top, and Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva, at the Miami Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

People walk outside Hard Rock Stadium in front of a rainbow, as rain breaks after delaying play by many hours, at the Miami Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

People ride an escalator into Hard Rock Stadium in front of a rainbow, as rain breaks after delaying play by many hours, at the Miami Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A crew dries the court after a break in rain that had delayed play by several hours, at the Miami Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Saudi warplanes have reportedly struck on Friday forces in southern Yemen backed by the United Arab Emirates, a separatist leader says.

This comes as a Saudi-led operation attempts to take over camps of the Southern Transitional Council, or STC, in the governorate of Haramout that borders Saudi Arabia.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE rose after the STC moved last month into Yemen’s governorates of Hadramout and Mahra and seized an oil-rich region. The move pushed out forces affiliated with the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, a group aligned with the coalition in fighting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Meanwhile, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen accused the head of the STC of blocking a Saudi mediation delegation from landing in the southern city of Aden.

The STC deputy and former Hamdrmout governor, Ahmed bin Breik, said in a statement that the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces advanced toward the camps, but the separatists refused to withdraw, apparently leading to the airstrikes.

Mohamed al-Nakib, spokesperson for the STC-backed Southern Shield Forces, also known as Dera Al-Janoub, said Saudi airstrikes caused fatalities, without providing details. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify that claim.

Al-Nakib also accused Saudi Arabia in a video on X of using “Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda militias” in a "large-scale attack " early Friday that he claimed sepratists were able to repel.

He likened the latest developments to Yemen’s 1994 civil war, “except that this time it is under the cover of Saudi aviation operations.”

Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadramout who was chosen Friday by Yemen's internationally recognized government to command the Saudi-led forces in the governorate, refuted STC claims, calling them “ridiculous” and showing intentions of escalation instead of a peaceful handover, according Okaz newspaper, which is aligned with the Saudi government.

Earlier on Friday, al-khanbashi called the current operation of retrieving seized areas “peaceful.”

“This operation is not a declaration of war and does not seek escalation,” al-Khanbashi said in a speech aired on state media. “This is a responsible pre-emptive measure to remove weapons and prevent chaos and the camps from being used to undermine the security in Hadramout,” he added.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen demands the withdrawal of STC forces from the two governorates as part of de-escalation efforts. The STC has so far refused to hand over its weapons and camps.

The coalition's spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said Friday on X that Saudi-backed naval forces were deployed across the Arabian Sea to carry out inspections and combat smuggling.

In his post on X, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jaber, said the kingdom had tried “all efforts with STC” for weeks "to stop the escalation" and to urge the separatists to leave Hadramout and Mahra, only to be faced with “continued intransigence and rejection from Aidarous al-Zubaidi," the STC head.

Al-Jaber said the latest development was not permitting the Saudi delegation's jet to land in Aden, despite having agreed on its arrival with some STC leaders to find a solution that serves “everyone and the public interest.”

Yemen’s transport ministry, aligned with STC, said Saudi Arabia imposed on Thursday requirements mandating that flights to and from Aden International Airport undergo inspection in Jeddah. The ministry expressed “shock” and denounced the decision. There was no confirmation from Saudi authorities.

ِA spokesperson with the transport ministry told the AP late Thursday that all flights from and to the UAE were suspended until Saudi Arabia reverses these reported measures.

Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war for more than a decade, with the Houthis controlling much of the northern regions, while a Saudi-UAE-backed coalition supports the internationally recognized government in the south. However, the UAE also helps the southern separatists who call for South Yemen to secede once again from Yemen. Those aligned with the council have increasingly flown the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990.

—

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

Southern Yemen soldiers of Southern Transitional Council (STC) at a check point, in Aden, Yemen, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo)