John McEnroe fires a big warning to Alexander Zverev ahead of semi-final
The tennis world may have been expecting a showdown between Jaoa Fonseca and Alexander Zverev in Friday’s French Open semi-finals, but a new contender has emerged to ruin that party.
Jakub Mensik’s 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(3) win against Fonseca suggested the teenage Brazilian has a long way to go before he is ready to challenge for a Grand Slam title.
And in the opinion of tennis legend John McEnroe, Mensik is now primed to reach his first Grand Slam final, after he talked up his chances of beating Zverev in the semi-final on Friday.
“I’ll tell you, he’s gonna be a handful for the next 10 years,” said McEnroe of Mensik, speaking on TNT Sports and HBO Max.
“I didn’t know how quick he was at that height. You know, and, you don’t know how these young kids can recover, and that was unknown.
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“It looked like he ended up being the fresher. The two guys, certainly, by the end, especially, even though he was sort of by hip hurts or something, I think that was more nerves than anything else. But the way he got up to those drop shops. He was just was so skilful with that feel. I mean
“Zverev to me at 6’6”, he moves side to side – awesome. But he’s not quite as good moving forward as Mensik. He moves forward so well and he’s a big guy 6,5, so. Wow. That was impressive.
“If Mensik plays like that in the semi-finals, he’s going to give Zverev a lot of trouble.”
Mensik was overwhelmed as he spoke to the crowd after reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final, he he paid tribute to Fonseca after a Roland run that saw him beat Novak Djokovic in round run.
“Joao is a great guy and a great competitor. Before the match, I knew it would be a tough one,” said the Czech star.
“We started a little nervous. At the end of the match, there were some incredible shots and I am super happy I was the one who came back. I managed to stay focused and keep fighting until the end.
“It was really tough to stay focused until the end and I had match points, I am really happy that I managed to come back in the tie-break and move my game a little bit forward.”
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Zverev won his only previous meeting with Mensik at the Rome Masters last month, but he was pushed all the way by a rival who has grown in confidence since then.
As McEnroe suggested, if Mensik plays at the level he did against Fonseca, he will be a live contender to reach his first Grand Slam final.
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