Former world No 1 praises Jakub Mensik’s tennis IQ as he tells Czech what ‘he has to do’ against Alexander Zverev
Jakub Mensik has been advised how to approach his French Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev with former world No 1 Mats Wilander saying “he has to” adopt a specific strategy if he is to win.
The 20-year-old has reached the business end of a Grand Slam for the first time as his previous best run at a major was this year’s fourth-round appearance at the Australian Open, but he has now gone two better as he is in the last four.
Mensik had a tough round to the quarter-final as he played two five-setters and one four-setter, but he was a lot more comfortable against Joao Fonseca in the last eight as he dominated the first two sets before he had a little wobble.
Fonseca saved six match points as the third set went to a tie-breaker, but the Czech eventually won 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) to set up an encounter against favourite Zverev, who beat Rafael Jodar 7-6 (6-3), 6-1, 6-3.
The pair will meet for the second time in top-level tennis with Zverev winning their previous encounter in three sets at this year’s Madrid Open.
Tennis great Wilander believes both players will be solid on serve and says Mensik will need to play on the front foot if he is to stand a chance of beating the second seed.
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“Well, I expect a lot of good serving, ’cause I think that you get this confident, you’re gonna keep serving well,” he said on TNT Sports and Eurosport.
“After that, from the baseline, I expect Zverev to be a little bit more steady, but I think Mensik is gonna be the guy that’s gonna take the initiative, because I think he has to, and I think he knows that he has to.
“I think he hit his forehand better today than I’ve ever seen him hit his forehand. And I thought his forehand was a weakness, ’cause we talked about it before, and it’s not a weakness, apparently, but I do think that he’ll be the one that’s gonna press and come forwards against Zverev.
“Zverev might have to hang back a little bit, but he’s got great defensive skills. So, there’s a little bit of a contrast of style going on with Jakub Mensik, which I really love, ’cause he does come forward so much.”
But Mensik – who has jumped 10 places in the Live Rankings with his run to the semi-final – certainly has the tools to beat Zverev with the Swede saying the world No 26’s “tennis IQ seems very high”.
“He’s a truly good tennis player, because he knows how to do everything,” he said.
“I did not realise before this match that he could play with so much variety, that he’s so versatile, he was coming through the net and hitting these beautiful little angle volleys. Athletically, he moves incredibly well for a big guy.
“We knew the serve was a weapon, and if he kept the serve percentage as high as he did today, then the serve is a massive weapon, and I think that was the biggest difference between the two, the serve.
“But in general, Jakub Mensik, he’s really presented himself tonight as an all-around player. He played with such great instinct [against Fonseca]. He came to the net when he was supposed to. He came at the right time. He’s really shown that he knows tennis very well. His tennis IQ seems very high.”
*Mats Wilander is part of TNT Sports’ Roland-Garros coverage*
*Every match of Roland-Garros is live across TNT Sports and HBO Max*.
