Over at her Instagram story, Las Vegas Aces star Jewell Loyd expressed her reaction to the loss of Novak Djokovic to 19-year-old Jakub Mensik. Loyd expressed admiration for the young player, who showed impressive performance in the finals game.
“This kid is unreal!!!” Loyd captioned her story.
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Jewell Loyd was recently involved in a blockbuster three-team trade in the WNBA. She was traded from the Seattle Storm to the Las Vegas Aces, marking the end of her illustrious career with the Storm, where she won two championships and earned six All-Star selections. In exchange, the Storm received the No. 2 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, along with Li Yueru, a 6-foot-7 center, and the Aces’ 2026 first-round pick.
The game between 19-year-old Jakub Mensik and tennis legend Novak Djokovic ended with scores of 7-6 (7/4) and 7-6 (7/4). The game, held at Hard Rock Stadium, was delayed for nearly six hours due to rain.
This win marked Mensik’s first ATP Masters 1000 title and denied Djokovic his 100th career singles title and a record seventh Miami Open crown.
Novak Djokovic Reflects on Finals Loss
Despite losing his chance for a historic 100th ATP singles title, Novak Djokovic still showed grace in defeat, as she praised Jakub Mensik.
“Congratulations to Mensik and his team. Never really happy to lose, but he’s one of the very few players that I would be happier to lose to, to be honest,” Djokovic said. “I have seen him play when he was 15 or 16 and invited him, we had some training blocks together. He was training at my club in Belgrade, and to see his development and evolution is really great, amazing.”
“I could see back then already — three, four years ago — that he’s going to be one of the top players of the world,” he added. “I’m super glad that he’s using the potential that he has, because he’s got the complete game. Obviously his serve is incredible, powerful, precise, wins a lot of free points with the first serve.”
“Unfortunately ended with a loss in the final, but I played some really good tennis up to today.”
Novak Djokovic holds a record 24 Grand Slam titles, an Olympic gold medal, and 99 ATP singles titles while being ranked world No. 1 for a record 428 weeks.
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Sabel has been working as a field reporter for People’s Television Network (PTV), mainly about the Philippine Basketball Association since 2016 and has been elevated to Executive Producer for sports in 2022. Aside from being on top of the Philippine sports scene, she is also a running enthusiast. You can also follow her on X at @SabelReyes2 and Instagram at @msabelreyes.
