Jakub Mensik is going to have a huge rise in the rankings! Will he play ATP Next Gen Finals?

Jakub Mensik is undoubtedly one of the biggest rising stars on the ATP circuit. He confirms it also at the US Open, where he will play the third round against the local Taylor Fritz on Friday night.

Jakub Mensik managed to dominate two tournaments this year. First he succeeded in the ITF tournament in Trnava, then he won the challenger in Prague. In the finals he scored the scalp of the German Koepfer.

Considering the fact that he finished the 2022 calendar year in the top 100 of the ATP rankings, this can be considered a huge success. Before the start of the US Open, he was ranked 206th in the world rankings.

However, it is already clear that he will significantly improve his career high in the upcoming edition of the rankings. The native of Prostejov had to deal with very strong opponents in the qualification round.

In the opening round he knocked out the Italian tennis player Fognini, a former member of the world top ten. In the second round, he found a recipe for Riedi, after which he knocked out his compatriot Zdeněk Kolář after sets 7:5 and 6:4.

For his first duel in the main draw at Grand Slam tournaments, the draw assigned him the Frenchman Barrere. This year, he had the scalps of Norrie and Khachanov, but he was not able to beat Mensik after a three-hour battle.

In the second round he faced Titouan Droguet, another successful qualifier. Except for the first set, the Czech star had the upper hand, losing his serve only once during the whole duel.

In the third round, on his 18th birthday, Menšík will face home star Taylor Fritz. It will probably be the biggest match of his career so far.

But it is already certain that Jakub Mensik will improve his career best. He will be ranked 146th on the ATP rankings with 405 points. If he could advance to the eighth round, he would add another 90 points to his account.

It’s also quite possible that Mensik will be eligible for the ATP Next Gen Finals, which the top eight tennis players under the age of 21 qualify for. Currently ranked 14th, he would probably only need 10th place to advance (Alcaraz and Rune will probably play the Tournament of Champions).

He is currently 84 points behind tenth-ranked Medjedovic, but if he wins against Fritz he could get ahead of the Serbian tennis player.

Source: ATP