When the student beats the teacher...

He won the Masters in Miami, where in the grand final, after two tie-breaks, he defeated his idol - Novak Djokovic.

"I started playing tennis because of Novak. When I started, he was already at the top," Menšik said at one time.

He showed how much he appreciates him when greeting him on the net, first bowing to the best tennis player of all time.

This 19-year-old, along with Joao Fonseca, probably the greatest potential of the latest generation, became the lowest-ranked tennis player (54) to win the tournament in Florida.

In addition, he became the second youngest player, after Carlos Alcaraz in 2022 (18), to win Miami.

The fact that Djokovic was already a Top 100 player when Menšik was born in September 2005 was telling what a clash of generations this was.

Jakub also became the first Czech, since Tomas Berdych (Paris, 2005), who triumphed in the tournament from the 1,000 series.

Menšik really came to the title in style, winning as many as seven tie-breaks along the way, but also eliminating serious players.

Roberto Bautista Agut, Jack Draper, Roman Safiulin, Tomas Makach, Arthur Fils, Taylor Fritz and finally Djokovic fell in order.

Realistically, such an epilogue, at least if we look at this season's form, could not really be expected.

Menšik did draw attention to himself at the Australian Open, where he knocked out Casper Rudd, but after that he didn't have very serious results.

One victory each in Rotterdam and Indian Wells, an express defeat in Acapulco, certainly did not bode well for Miami.

However, in Florida everything was different. Devastating shots, continuity of good games, psychological stability, Menšik showed all that, especially in the final with Novak.

"It was not the first time I played against Novak. There is no more difficult thing in tennis than to beat Novak in the final. I felt great, I tried to be focused like in the previous rounds," Menšik said.

The two played recently in Shanghai, where Novak celebrated, who paid attention to Jakub three years ago, when he was a teenager.

Menšik's best result in junior competition was the final of the Australian Open in 2022.

His reaching the final attracted the attention of Djokovic, who invited him to train together.

"He invited me to Belgrade and then to Montenegro to spend a few days with him in training," says Menšik.

He used that experience well, he became a professional the same year, and he won his first title in 2023 at the Challenger in Prague.

At that moment, he was only 17 years old, so they soon began to draw parallels with Tomasz Berdych, who also won two challenger titles at the age of 17 in 2003.

He made his Grand Slam debut in 2023, where he qualified, reached the third round, beating two Frenchmen, before being stopped by Taylor Fritz.

At the next Grand Slam, Australian Open 2024, he defeated Denis Shapovalov, only to be knocked out by Hubert Hurkacz.

Then followed the best result of his career, until this one in Miami, the final of Doha, and then during the spring he defeated names like Borna Ćorić, Grigor Dimitrov, Fabio Fognini.

He didn't have the opportunity to play at Roland Garros yet, but he did at Wimbledon, where he was eliminated in the first round by Alexander Bublik after a reversal and five sets.

Menšik also played in the semi-finals of Umag, the aforementioned third round of the US Open, where he was defeated by Nuno Borges, but also in the quarter-finals of Shanghai, where Djokovic was an insurmountable obstacle.

He ended the season with the quarterfinals in Vienna, while at the Next Gen tournament he suffered all three defeats in the group.

He started the new year with two quarterfinals, first in Brisbane, where he lost to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, and then in Auckland, where Nuno Borges was better.

And while Menšík is making his way to the top of the world, we should not forget another important name in his life, Ivo Miller.

It is about Jakub's first coach, who tragically passed away. All this happened in 2013, when Menšik was only seven years old.

"Jakub was very small. He was sad and that was the first opportunity to talk about death, situations like this. Life goes on," says Michal, Jakub's father.

By that moment, Ivo had already instilled in him a great love for tennis, and at the age of 12 there was no doubt that he would become a professional tennis player.

He was involved in athletics, but also basketball, and it is known that he is a big fan of Golden State because of Steph Curry.