Wikipedia - Jakub Menšík
Jakub Menšík (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjakup ˈmɛnʃiːk]; born 1 September 2005) is a Czech professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 65 achieved on 6 May 2024 and a doubles ranking of No. 402 achieved on 12 June 2023. He is currently the No. 3 Czech in singles and the youngest player in the top 100.
On the junior tour, Menšík has a career-high ITF junior combined ranking of World No. 3 achieved on 31 January 2022. He reached the final of the 2022 Australian Open Junior singles event.
History
Juniors
He lost in the final of the Junior 2022 Australian Open to Bruno Kuzuhara after suffering from thigh muscle cramps.
2023: Maiden Challenger, Grand Slam debut and third round
In May 2023 he won his first Challenger, the 2023 Sparta Prague Open defeating Dominik Koepfer in just his sixth Challenger main-draw appearance, becoming the youngest Czech Challenger champion in history at 17 years old. The only previous 17-year-old Czech champion was former World No. 4 Tomáš Berdych, who captured two Challenger titles in 2003.
He competed in the first qualifying round of the US Open, beating Fabio Fognini 1–6, 6–1, 6–1. He then defeated Leandro Riedi in the second round, and then qualified on his debut for the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time with a two-set victory against compatriot Zdeněk Kolář. He then won his first Major match defeating Grégoire Barrère, becoming the youngest man since Borna Ćorić in 2014 to win a main draw match at the US Open. He then defeated fellow first-time Major qualifier Titouan Droguet a day before his 18th birthday, before losing to Taylor Fritz in straight sets in the third round.
2024: First ATP final & top-10 win, top 100 at 18 years old, Masters debut & first win
He qualified for the 2024 Australian Open, making his debut at this Major, and defeated former top 10 player Denis Shapovalov in straight sets. He moved to a new career-high of No. 127 on 29 January 2024.
He was selected under the new #NextGen programme to compete at an ATP 250 event, the 2024 Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Ranked No. 116, he defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in straight sets to advance to the second round. Next, he defeated Andy Murray in three sets with three tiebreaks to advance to his first ATP quarterfinal. It was the longest match in the history of the tournament lasting 3 hours and 23 minutes. He defeated top seed Andrey Rublev in straight sets, his first ATP top-10 and top-5 win, to advance to his first ATP semifinal. He was the youngest player to defeat a top-5 player since Carlos Alcaraz overcame Stefanos Tsitsipas at the US Open in 2021. He defeated Gaël Monfils in three sets to advance to his first ATP final. As a result he moved close to 30 positions up in the rankings, becoming the youngest player in the top 100. He lost to second seed Karen Khachanov in the final.
He entered the next Middle East swing tournament, the 2024 Dubai Tennis Championships with a special exempt (SE) status where he defeated Borna Ćorić.
He also received a wildcard for the 2024 BNP Paribas Open for his Masters debut and recorded his first main draw Masters win over qualifier Hong Seong-chan at this level.