’Every percent matters’: Jakub Mensik crunches the numbers in Miami title defense

MIAMI, Fla. — Jakub Mensik has good memories of playing at Hard Rock Stadium, and said he feels “a lot of goosebumps” as he begins his first title defense.

He’s got a sharp memory, too. Mensik didn’t miss a beat when breaking down the scouting report from his win over Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round here last year, or how he adjusted his strategy against Roman Safiullin in the next round.

“Every percent makes a big difference in this type of game," he explained during an info session for the ATP’s TennisIQ stats platform. "I knew that I needed to be good in the beginning of the rallies—so from zero to four (shots)—which I dominate really, really well. So I knew that I had to keep (Bautista Agut) in this kind of game.

“I knew that Safiullin is a guy that is hitting the ball very hard, but when I keep him in the longer rallies his Baseline Points Won was 45 percent. So at the time, I was like, Okay I want to stay with him in the baseline battles.’”

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Some players avoid looking at tournament draws or stat sheets. For Mensik, that level of granular analysis comes naturally—and it runs in the family. His father, Michal, an IT professional, built a custom platform to track and analyze his son’s match data from his junior days through his rise up the rankings.

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"You would be surprised. There was serve and return numbers, serve plus one shots, shot selections,” Mensik said of the platform. “We implemented zones as well… There was a lot of things.

“My father used to be there for many, many hours a day. But it was the basic information that I needed when I was a junior and starting to play pros. That was the most necessary thing that I needed.”

Now ranked No. 13 and with more than $5.5 million in career prize money—including $2.6 million in 2025 alone—Mensik has access to the kind of resources he and his father once had to build themselves.

Alongside longtime coach Tomas Josefus, mental coach Dragan Vujovic and fitness coach Jan Pospisil, the focus is on stabilizing results after an up-and-down stretch while maintaining his health.

Mensik cut his 2025 season short due to a foot injury, withdrawing from Basel, the Paris Masters and the Next Gen ATP Finals. He opened 2026 with a title in Auckland, but an abdominal injury at the Australian Open forced him to pull out before his fourth-round match against Djokovic.

He returned in Doha and delivered a statement win over world No. 2 Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals.

Now, he faces significant points to defend this week—and an opportunity to join rare company. Only Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras have successfully defended the Miami title.

“I’m not trying to put too much pressure on myself—even from the outside, from the media, the audience and anyone who is talking about it,” Mensik said.

“I’m just trying to focus on myself. Of course, (the pressure of defending a big title) is something new, but it’s something that I’m really excited for and something that I want to have in my career.”

The No. 12 seed awaits the winner of the first-round match between qualifier Adam Walton and Sebastian Baez.