The young Czech ready to stun his idol, Novak Djokovic, again at the AO

A fired-up Jakub Menšík in action against Ethan Quinn. (Getty/Lintao Zhang)

Jakub Menšík has made his deepest run at a Grand Slam yet, reaching the fourth round of the 2026 Australian Open. The 20-year-old Czech, seeded No.16, now faces Novak Djokovic in a rematch of their 2025 Miami Open final. In that famous encounter, Mensik claimed his first ATP title by defeating the 24-time Grand Slam champion in straight sets, marking one of the biggest surprises of the year. In hindsight though, it may not be seen as an enormous upset.

Menšík was born in the Czech town of Prostějov, which holds a strong tennis tradition. He began playing at age three and developed into a top junior, reaching world No.2 and making the boys' singles final at the 2022 French Open. Standing at 6'4" (193 cm), he relies on a powerful, precise serve and aggressive baseline play. He turned professional in 2022 and has been rising ever since.

His early success came on the Challenger circuit. In May 2023, at just 17, he won his first Challenger title at the Sparta Prague Open, defeating Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-3 in the final. This came in only his sixth Challenger main-draw appearance, making him the youngest Czech player to win a Challenger title. The only other Czech player to win a Challenger title at 17 was the great Tomáš Berdych.

Menšík's breakthrough on the ATP Tour arrived in 2023 when, still 17, he became the youngest player since Michael Chang in 1987 to reach the third round of the US Open after fighting through qualifying. He followed that with consistent progress, reaching his first ATP final in 2024 at the Qatar Open, eventually losing to Karen Khachanov.

Menšík's big announcement came at the 2025 Miami Open. Battling a knee injury during the tournament, he pushed through to the final.

"I told them, 'my knee is hurting, I filled out the paper, and I'm going'," he recalled afterwards. Luckily, he didn’t."

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In the final, he defeated Djokovic 7-6(4), 7-6(4). On court during the trophy ceremony, Menšík spoke directly to his idol:

"You're the one I idolised when I was young. I started playing tennis because of you," he explained. "Thank you so much for everything you've done for this sport."

Djokovic, who had spotted his opponent's talent early and invited the then-16-year-old to train at his camp in Belgrade in 2022, reciprocated the praise.

"Congratulations to Menšík 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 could see back then [in 2022] already—three, four years ago—that he's going to be one of the top players of the world. I'm super glad that he's using the potential that he has, because he's got the complete game."

Djokovic also highlighted Menšík's strengths, which he's going to have to deal with again tomorrow: "He has the complete game. His serve is incredible, powerful, precise."

Menšík's response after the win made it clear he's not here to have a few moments in the sun. He wants sustained success, and plenty of it.

"I'm still 19, so I have all of my career in front of me. It feels great to have this (trophy) next to me, but it's not just about the one title, one tournament ... I'm hungry for more," he shared.

He built on that success by winning his second ATP title at the 2026 Auckland International, just days before the Australian Open, defeating Sebastian Baez in the final.

"I would say it has been a great start of the year," Menšík said in his on-court interview. "I'm super happy that after my preparation and pre-season."

The world No.17's career singles record stands at 66-43 before this Australian Open, with two titles and prize money approaching A$7.25 million. He averages around 13 aces per match and wins roughly 78 per cent of first-serve points. He will definitely need the serve to be on song against the best returner in history.

One standout aspect of his game is his performance against elite opposition, holding an 8-8 record against players ranked in the top 10 at the time of their matches, demonstrating he often elevates his level for big occasions.

With Djokovic as his next opponent, this matchup has the potential to bring out the best from the young Czech.

So far this season, he has started very positively, with a win over Casper Ruud at the United Cup, before taking out the Auckland title as mentioned previously. At the Australian Open, he has defeated Pablo Carreño Busta in a first-round five-setter, Rafael Jodar in the second, and Ethan Quinn (6-2, 7-6(5), 7-6(5)) in the third, where he fired 15 aces and saved all break points faced.

After his second-round win, Menšík reflected on the tour's ongoing evolution and the emergence of new talent.

"Yeah, absolutely. It's a great, great, great thing to see, again, like, new players coming up on tour," he said. "I mean, I've been saying that all the time, even two years ago when I was the one that was coming up, and there was a lot of expectations, a lot of media stuff, and blah, blah, blah.

"Then, of course, I've been telling myself, it's just one year. Then the other years, they're all becoming new guys. So, of course, it's always good for our sport that there is always someone new, and you don't know what to expect."

What we can expect is a very entertaining match-up. The head-to-head with Djokovic stands at 1-1, as the 24-time major champion won their first meeting in 2024 in a competitive three-set match.

Djokovic arrives in this fourth-round clash chasing an 11th Australian Open title and a record-extending 25th Grand Slam. He hasn't really been tested yet. But you get the feeling this match-up has the potential to be one of the matches of the tournament.

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