The future of tennis is here

They flipped the script. When a promising teen prospect faces his boyhood idol for the first time, he typically raves about his hero afterward.

Instead, after  Dino Prizmic, a qualifier from Croatia, battled Novak Djokovic for four hours before yielding 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 in the Australian Open first round, it was the undisputed GOAT who heaped praise on the kid.

“I love the way he uses every inch of the court. He is comfortable coming in, he defends incredibly well,” said Djokovic in his on-court interview. “Just an amazing performance for someone who is 18 years old and never had an experience of playing on a big stage.”

Aside from first-set nerves, No. 171-ranked Prizmic didn’t appear the least bit intimidated either by Djokovic or his own Grand Slam main-draw debut on Rod Laver Arena. That was just one of several attributes that impressed the 10-time and defending AO champion.

“I had an amazing opponent tonight,” Djokovic, twice his age at 36 and playing his 410 ^th Grand Slam match, said in his post-match press conference. “For an 18-year-old, he played so maturely and confidently on the court, fighting through, not giving up even when he was four down in the fourth set. Impressed with his mentality, with his approach, with his game.”

Winning big points is another auspicious sign for Prizmic, who celebrated them with a ‘Mr. T’ scowl. Fearless shot-making gave him the second set tiebreaker 7-5 against Djokovic, who had racked up a superb 17-2 tiebreaker record at majors last year. The Croat again displayed guts and grit when he staved off four match points against the best serve returner in tennis history to hold in the penultimate game of the final set.

Djokovic noted their “grueling rallies, very physical games. Almost four hours for four sets.” Then he paid Prizmic the ultimate compliment: “It felt at some point I was playing myself in a mirror already.”

Not surprisingly, the hyper-competitive Prizmic enjoys the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). His favourite athlete, after Djokovic, is Kamaru Usman, the Nigerian-American former UFC Welterweight Champion and The Ultimate Fighter 21 tournament winner.

Although Prizmic, who upset No. 30 Jiri Lehecka and No. 81 Tomas Machac at the Stockholm Open last October, says his forehand is his favorite shot, Djokovic praised his backhand. “I hear that he liked to watch me when he was growing up. He’s got an incredible defence, especially from the backhand side. Very all-round game. Of course, he’s got every shot in the game [still] to improve.”

On the teenager’s rugged 6’2”, 180-pound physique, fitness fanatic Djokovic noted, “I think I’m most impressed with his physical state for an 18-year-old. His legs are so super strong and so solid.”

The Croat may have also studied his idol’s 2013 book,  Serve to Win: The 14-Day Gluten-Free Plan for Physical and Mental Excellence, which focused on nutrition, because Prizmic eats only natural foods.

But that’s not all Djokovic liked. “Also the mentality. He came out there not with a desire to just play a nice set or enjoy the experience, but rather to win. Kudos to him. It was impressive. If he continues this way, he’s going to have a very bright career ahead of him, no doubt.”

Who will be the next great American men’s player?

In the 20th century, this question conveyed optimism. That was when the U.S. produced champions with such regularity that we thought its domination would never end. But suddenly and shockingly, it did. All-time great Pete Sampras’s 14th and last Grand Slam title at the 2002 US Open and Andy Roddick’s only major title at the 2003 US Open were followed by an unforeseen, almost unimaginable drought.

The legendary Big Three — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic — ruled the men’s game for the next 20 years. And now Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are poised to dominate the rest of this decade.

Today this question is seldom asked. The more attainable goal is making the top 10, excellence to be sure, but not greatness. Currently, America boasts three excellent players, all age 26 — No. 10 Taylor Fritz, No. 14 Tommy Paul, and No. 15 Frances Tiafoe — but none is likely to win a major or an Olympic gold medal.

With this context in mind, 6’4”, 74th-ranked  Alex Michelsen, the youngest player ranked in the top 100, has emerged as an intriguing talent. A year ago, the skinny 19-year-old from California wasn’t even contemplating a pro career when he was ranked a lowly 466. Getting a tennis scholarship at a Division I college was still the family goal.

The summer of 2023 marked the turning point of his young career. At a Challenger event in Chicago, Michelsen, then ranked No. 190, upset former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori. Jubilant, he phoned his parents and asked, “What do you guys think about going pro?” His father, a real estate attorney, fired back, “Yeah, you’re going to go pro, but it’s going to be in real estate.” In early August, Michelsen was still committed to enrolling at the University of Georgia. His father Erik, a three-time All-American at the University of Redlands (Calif.), and his mother Sondra, a standout at San Diego State, gave Michelsen the benefits of nature and nurture.

“They taught me from an early age [3 years old] how to play tennis,” he recalled in a  Tennis Channel video titled — ‘Is Alex Michelsen the next big American star?’

“Especially my mom. I went out every single day to hit tennis balls with her,” he said. “She’s my hero. She’s the biggest influence in my life.”

When Michelsen was 16, he began training rigorously with the USTA’s Tier 1 Performance squad of promising juniors. Jay Leavitt, who with Erik Diaz coached Michelsen, said, “He’s a great competitor. He has a will to win that I haven’t seen from many kids his age. When he was 16, 17, 18, he started surpassing the others.” Leavitt and Diaz strengthened his backhand volley (which had been two-handed) and his forehand.

He sealed the deal, though, when he defeated Maxime Cressy, James Duckworth, Mackenzie McDonald, and former top-tenner John Isner to reach the final at Newport. “Believe you me,” said his father, “with me being an attorney and my wife being a teacher, we put up a lot of resistance.” His mother said, “But with his recent results, it was just hard to say no. And he really wanted it.”

On his remarkable breakthrough, Leavitt said, “He went from an ordinary junior to a pro within a year, which probably hasn’t happened in 20 years.”

At the US Open last September, the 127th-ranked Michelsen ambushed Spanish veteran and former No. 17 Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Four months later, he proved it was no fluke when he stunned No. 23 Jiri Lehecka 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the Australian Open second round. “He believed this was all going to happen the way it’s happened, and we, as parents, didn’t quite see that,” said his father. Added his mother, “I think he has a great belief in himself.”

Michelsen’s nip-and-tuck 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(4) Delray Beach Open loss recently to fellow American Tommy Paul showcased his power, blasting 52 winners. But another attribute caught the eye of  Tennis Channel analyst Paul Annacone, who coached superstars Federer and Sampras. “His tennis IQ is off the charts. You rarely see him select the wrong shot. He’s a fun player to watch.”

Similarly impressed with Michelsen’s precocious game, Paul said, “He’s a great player, he makes everything super tricky. It’s hard to break his serve, hard to beat him backhand to backhand. He’s definitely improving every week, and he’ll be on Tour for a long time. ”

His meteoric rise and the accolades continued the following week at the ATP 250 event in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Michelsen notched his first top 10 victory, overpowering No. 9 Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-1 with big serves, accurate backhands, and adroit volleys. “The all-court tennis he produced was mesmerizing and magnificent,” said  Tennis Channel analyst Rob Koenig.

A red flag appeared, however, at the ATP Next Gen Finals last November. In four tests measuring the athleticism of the elite eight players, he finished eighth in the 10-meter sprint, reaction test, and agility drill. He was seventh in the vertical jump. Pro tennis requires more athleticism than ever. For Michelsen to crack the top 20 in the world rankings, he’ll have to improve in all these areas, especially his sprint speed.

“If you can see it, you can be it,” Billie Jean King likes to say.

Jakub Mensik vividly recalls the first time he saw two Czech tennis giants in person. “Every year in my hometown of Prostejov, they had an exhibition with Tomas Berdych and Ivan Lendl. So all the little kids, 5, 6, 7 years old, had the opportunity to play one hour with them. I played with Berdych and took a lot of pictures with him,” Mensik told Fabio Molle in a March 21, 2023 interview on The Functional Tennis Podcast.

Watching the Davis Cup on TV with his dad further inspired little Mensik to dream big. “Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek were like legends in our country because they won the Davis Cup twice,” he said.

“Tomas was my tennis hero when I started, but my idol was Novak. When I started playing tennis, my goal, my dream was to be one of the best and win Grand Slams.”

Mensik never had a chance to play 2010 Wimbledon finalist Berdych at a pro tournament because the former world No. 4 retired in 2019.

But he will never forget the bittersweet circumstance that led to his meeting and playing Djokovic.

At the 2022 Australian Open junior event, with temperatures hitting 35°C (95°F) every day, Mensik won five matches, including a tough three-set semifinal.

Enervated but at the same exhilarated by the prospect of capturing a Grand Slam title, he battled for more than three hours in a gruelling final against No. 1 seeded American Bruno Kuzuhara.

“In the third set, I felt my arms and legs and whole body telling me to stop,” Mensik said. “But it was the final, so I was pushing, pushing on. After 5-all, 5-6, my body was absolutely dead. I can’t remember what happened then.”

Mensik suffered a painful, full-body cramp, and after Kuzuhara mercifully closed out the marathon 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-5, Mensik lay face down on the court, looking moribund. He was taken off the court in a wheelchair.

Unbeknownst to him, Djokovic had watched his valiant performance. A week later, Mensik received a text message from his boyhood idol with a video of Djokovic talking to him. “I was shocked and didn’t know what was happening, that he knows [of] me,” Mensik recalled. “Unbelievable. Unbelievable.”

The world No. 1 was looking for a practice partner and invited the 16-year-old Czech to Belgrade for two or three days. Mensik gladly accepted. “I met Nole. He’s very nice. I felt he was my friend at that moment, and I can ask him whatever I want.”

They spent each day together doing Djokovic’s routine: warm-up, on-court practice, fitness session, everything. Mensik called it “my biggest experience and a big motivation. After this experience, I’m a better player and a better person. He acts like a monster on the court, but off the court, he’s the nicest guy I’ve ever met.”

Mensik spent another five days training with Djokovic in Montenegro, and the knowledge he gleaned from both sessions helped propel him to four titles on the Future Circuit in 2022.

The following year, in his men’s Grand Slam debut at the US Open, he qualified and surged to the third round where No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz outclassed him 6-1, 6-2, 6-0.

Achieving a critical Davis Cup victory over Serbia’s No. 52 Dusan Lajovic last September, and reaching a Challenger final in Canberra, Australia, this January, further boosted his confidence going into the Australian Open.

There the 6’4” Mensik again qualified and then upset former No. 10 Denis Shapovalov, a lefty shot-maker, in straight sets in the opening round.

Sometimes an impressive loss can prove as meaningful as a big win. That’s exactly what happened when Mensik extended world No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz to 6-7(9), 6-1, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 in the second round.

“The match with Hurkacz is something that I compared with the match against Fritz,” he told ATP.com.

“Last year, I played Fritz in the third round, and he just beat me out of the court. Four months later, I played against the same kind of level of player and now it was five sets. I just can see the improvement…. I now have the confidence that I can play with these big guys and that I can really beat the big guys.”

Mensik backed up those words soon enough. At the recent Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, he whipped No. 24 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 (3), 6-4 for his first win over a top 30 opponent.

He then outlasted former world No. 1 Andy Murray 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 7-6(4) to reach his first ATP Tour quarterfinal.

Afterwards, he celebrated with a Djokovic-like primal roar. Heavily favoured Andrey Rublev became the Czech’s next big-name victim, going down 6-4, 7-6(6). That made Mensik the youngest player to defeat a Top-5 player since Carlos Alcaraz knocked out Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2021 U.S. Open.

Nicknamed ‘Menimal’ — shorthand for his ferocious, animal-like power — the brawny Mensik will beat many more ‘big guys’ this year and for years to come.

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