Jack Draper vs. Jakub Mensik
At the start of the year, I singled out Mensik as a player to watch in 2025. The 19-year-old Czech had treaded water for the first half of 2024, but he had already spent time in the Top 50, and he started to go deeper into events near the end of the season, making the quarters in Shanghai and Vienna and pushing Novak Djokovic to three sets.
So far this season, it has been the 23-year-old Draper, rather than Mensik, who has been the outstanding new face of the ATP, winning his first Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells and compiling a 13-2 record. By comparison, Mensik has been OK. He made a quarter in Brisbane, won two rounds at the Australian Open, and reached the semis at a Challenger in the Dominican Republic last week. His ranking of 54 is pretty much where it was to start the year.
