Czech teenager Jakub Mesik bothered Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/4) to win the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, denying the Serbs their title 100 career.
The 19 -year -old, held the 54th place in the world, claimed his first title on the ATP tour with an excellent powerful tennis exhibition.
The final was delayed almost six hours due to heavy rains and when the players emerged, it was clear that Djokovic had an eye infection. He used eye drops during a change in the first set.
Mesik began to break the first Djokovic game to go 2-0 and the high and large Czech Czech dominated until, at 4-2 Djokovic retired when Mesik found the network.
The set remained in service since then, but in the powerful Messik service, with two Aces, he put it in charge from the beginning. He opened an advantage of 5-0 and, although the 24-time Grand Slam Djokovic champion fought against the young man sealed the set with an upper volley.
It was the first set that Djokovic had lost throughout the tournament. Twice he lost his balance and ended back, and changed his footwear between the sets.
Mesik had defeated Djokovic by the same margin on the first set of his only other meeting in Shanghai before losing in three sets.
This time, however, the impulse seemed to be with him.
However, the second set was a Nip and Tuck issue, however, none of the players capable of breaking. Once again, Mesik’s power was decisive in the Tie -break and when Djokovic took a long time on a return to give him the victory, he fell on his back in the celebration.
“To be honest, I don’t know what to say. He feels incredible, obviously,” Mesik said in his interview on the court.
“It was probably the greatest day of my life and I did super, so I am very happy (to show the performance and keep the nerves out of the court before the game.
“I feel very happy and I think the feelings will come later,” he said.
Mesik has not hidden the fact that he grew up with Djokovic his idol and, after receiving the trophy, said he began his career in the hope of emulating the Serbian.
“There is no more difficult task for a tennis player to overcome him in the final of a tournament,” he said.
“I am quite sure that this was only the first of many,” Mesik added, before revealing that he had been close to leaving the tournament before his first game due to a knee injury before last minute physiotherapy produced the desired results.
Djokovic, who after the game refused to discuss the problem with his eye, paid tribute to the Czech exhibition.
“This is the moment of Jakub, a moment of his team, a moment of his family. Congratulations, incredible tournament.
“Incredible service and only a mentally also phenomenal effort to stay hard at a difficult time. For a young player like you, this is a great characteristic. Something that I am sure you will use many times in the following years,” Djokovic added.
The match between Djokovic and Mesik, 37, was the biggest age gap difference in a 1000 Masters final and the largest age gap of any tourism level since 1976.
