Two years ago, Jakub Mensik and his coach, Tomas Josefus, were in New York for the first time. Mensik qualified for the US Open boys’ singles event and reached the third round of the main draw. It was an invaluable experience, but one off-court memory sticks out.

Josefus remembers watching with his charge on television an 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz upset Stefanos Tsitsipas in a final-set tie-break.

“Carlos, at that moment, he was only 18, a little bit older than Jakub,” Josefus recalled. “We said, ‘Wow, he’s so good in this age.’”

On Friday Mensik turns 18 and it is the Czech making waves at Flushing Meadows. The teen will play No. 1 American Taylor Fritz for a place in the fourth round of the US Open. For those who have not seen him play before, expect the 6’4” Czech to come out firing.

“I’m very tall. I have a little bit [of an] advantage over other guys,” Mensik said. “So with my big serve and also with my aggressive position on the court, I feel very comfortable.”

Josefus, who first met Mensik when he was eight, concurred with his player’s evaluation.

“Jakub is an aggressive baseliner for sure. His game style is really aggressive and is trying to put pressure on his opponent with taking time away. That’s probably the signature of Jakub’s game,” Josefus said. “He has a big serve and big return. In today’s tennis, and in today’s game, zero to four shot rallies, especially here on hard courts in the U.S. are a minimum 60, maybe sometimes 70 per cent of all points. So definitely a big serve and big return is a big strength of Jakub’s game.”

According to Josefus, Mensik did not always play such an attacking style.

“When he played the Under-14s category, he played not so aggressive. He stayed more on the baseline, sometimes only pushing and waiting on errors from the opponent’s side. Today’s tennis, it’s about being aggressive, you have to be very aggressive,” Josefus said. “It’s not about unforced errors, but it’s about forced errors in today’s game. So the majority of the points in tennis are forced errors. So for that reason, you have to be aggressive.”

From eight until nearly 14, Josefus was part of a trio of coaches who worked with Mensik in Prostejov. Since then, Josefus has been his player’s main coach. From a young age, he has seen how quickly Mensik learns.

“I think his motor learning is very fast. So if I compare it with other players, especially in this age, Jakub is learning very fast. He is a very intelligent guy,” Josefus said. “These days we are working a lot with data and numbers so of course, it’s a long pathway. But definitely when I saw him for the first time, he was learning fast, new movements, new skills.”

Some of Mensik’s most valuable learning experiences have come in two separate training weeks with 23-time major champion Novak Djokovic. Ironically, Josefus said Mensik’s signature shot is his counter-attacking backhand from an open stance, just like the Serbian.

“Imagine if you are only 16 and you got the chance to spend — and for me also as his coach — some time directly with Novak and with the whole team. It’s a big, big challenge and a big, big privilege for us,” Josefus said. “It opened our eyes in many ways. And he helped him a lot because if he’s on court with anybody else, he knows that Nole is the better or bigger guy. So he has no problem with that.”

Josefus explained that they learned from Djokovic how important details are. There are so many different things that go into becoming the best tennis player possible.

“It’s not only about the forehands and backhands and serves and returns, but it’s about the food. It’s about the specific conditioning, it’s about the opponent scouting, it’s about the player development,” Josefus said. “In data you are able to see the truth about your game.”

According to Josefus, Djokovic’s team has been kind enough to offer advice even outside of those training weeks. Josefus also now uses the same analytics team that assists the Serbian so that the Czechs can hone in on the details.

That is a big part of what has allowed Mensik, the 2022 Australian Open boys’ singles finalist, to make his breakthrough in New York. The player he defeated in the second round, Titouan Droguet, had played him twice before. The Frenchman was impressed by the improvement Mensik had made.

“It was really not this kind of match. He improved a lot his game,” Droguet said. “He’s very young and in the rankings he’s moving up every month. I don’t see any limit for him in the future to be a great player.”

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek rallied from a set down Thursday at the US Open to keep alive their hopes for a second major title.

The second seeds, who won Roland Garros this year, defeated Spaniards Roberto Carballes Baena and Bernabe Zapata Miralles 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round at Flushing Meadows after fending off eight of nine break points faced. The Croatian-American team will next face Stefanos Tsitsipas and Petros Tsitsipas after the Greek duo downed Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela and David Vega Hernandez 7-6(2), 6-4. 

Also in doubles action Thursday, top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski overcame home hopes Christopher Eubanks and Ben Shelton 7-5, 7-6(5). Wimbledon champions Koolhof and Skupski dropped just three points behind their first delivery.

Robert Galloway and Albano Olivetti sent John Isner and Jack Sock into retirement after defeating the Americans 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3). 

Fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer cruised past Denys Molchanov and David Pel 6-1, 6-2. Cincinnati champions Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni downed Pedro Cachin and Juan Pablo Varillas 6-4, 6-2.

Stan Wawrinka rolled back the years Thursday at the US Open to survive a baseline slugfest against 30th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Wawrinka, who lifted the trophy at Flushing Meadows in 2016, displayed vintage firepower and pristine fitness as he battled past the Argentine 7-6(6), 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-2 after three hours, 39 minutes. From the start, both players treated fans to a thrilling contest, no better example than in the third game when the 38-year-old Swiss ripped a forehand passing shot to seal the longest rally of the tournament (35 shots).

The three-time major champion stayed consistent from the back of court and despite relinquishing a set point in the second-set tie-break, he maintained focus to improve to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the Agrentine, whom he also beat in the second round of Wimbledon. Wawrinka broke Etcheverry’s serve to love in the sixth game of the third set before cruising to the finish line, striking 47 winners to set a blockbuster third-round clash against sixth seed Jannik Sinner.

Making his 16th appearance at the season’s final major, Wawrinka is the oldest man to reach the US Open third round since a 39-year-old Jimmy Connors was a semi-finalist in 1991.

Etcheverry, 24, has enjoyed a breakthrough season. He was a finalist at the ATP 250 events in Santiago and Houston and reached the last eight at Roland Garros. The World No. 34 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings earned his maiden US Open main-draw victory Tuesday when he survived Finn Otto Virtanen in a four-hour, 25-minute five-set battle.

Also in the top quarter of the draw Thursday, 16th seed Cameron Norrie produced a clean-hitting performance to down Yu Hsiou Hsu 7-5, 6-4, 6-4. The Briton will next meet Italian Matteo Arnaldi, who survived #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-4 in three hours, 55 minutes.

23rd seed Nicolas Jarry ended the hopes of American wild card Alex Michelsen 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the US Open third round for the first time. The Chilean will next face Alex de Minaur after the Aussie cruised past Wu Yibing 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.

When Laslo Djere walks on the court inside Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday for his third-round US Open match against Novak Djokovic, he will face one of the biggest challenges in all of sports.

Djokovic has won more major titles — 23 — than any man in tennis history and the 36-year-old has not lost before the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament since 2016. But any challenge he faces on court is incomparable to the obstacles he has overcome off it.

By the age of 23, Djere had lost his mother, Hajnalka and father, Caba, to cancer. Since then, he has persevered and played the best tennis of his life. Continuing to push forward, he has earned opportunities to show his talent on the world’s biggest stages, just like he will against Djokovic.

“I don’t want to go too sentimental or sound smart. Everybody has ups and downs and tough moments in life, but I think that’s how life is,” Djere told ATPTour.com. “Some are less fortunate than others. Some are more fortunate. Every person has their own story I’m sure.

“It’s important that you believe in your goals, your vision, yourself and you don’t let things or some other factors that you can’t control — or even sometimes you can, but didn’t go your way — affect you on your road to that goal… Just keep going no matter what.”

As a countryman of Djokovic, Djere is well aware of what the three-time US Open champion is capable of. But he is not dwelling too much on who will be standing across the net.

“I will try and just prepare as for any other match. I think that’s the key and not to be stressed about who will be my next opponent, the guy who is probably the best of all time,” Djere said. “I will really just try to approach it as every other match, as the third round of the US Open. My goal is to go out on the court and fight for every point and play my best tennis. I think that will be the key against Novak.”

Djere does not remember the first time he met Djokovic, remembering seeing him in Grand Slam tournament locker rooms when he was a junior. But the first time they spent a significant amount of time together was in Dubai in 2015, when Djokovic invited him to play doubles together. At the time, Djere was outside the Top 250 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

“I was very happy. It was a great opportunity. We did a few practice sessions, played the doubles. I also got a glance how does it look on the Tour at an ATP 500, which was altogether a really nice and useful experience for my future career,” Djere said. “I saw where I wanted to be and it also gave me some motivation to keep working hard and reach that level one day, which thankfully, I eventually reached.”

Djere has spent plenty of time with Djokovic over the years. From competing alongside one another in Davis Cup to sharing training sessions together, they have gotten to know one another well.

“In practices, the atmosphere is a bit more relaxed. He’ll feel more free to try some things that you maybe wouldn’t dare to try in a match,” Djere said. “But I mean, his focus and the intensity is pretty much the same in practice as it is in a match, and that’s something I am also trying to do.”

Last year in Belgrade, they met in singles action for the first time. Then the World No. 1, Djokovic needed to draw on all of his experience to win 2-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) after three hours and 22 minutes.

“Obviously he wasn’t in his best form back then. But again, I proved to myself that I can play with him and many other times also when I played Top 10 guys that I can play with those guys,” Djere said. “For sure they are on a different level, especially Novak. But I think I can have a good match with him. And he’s playing now much better than back then. So I will not rely too much on that experience last year. I will just try to focus on this match.”

Djokovic is well aware of what Djere is capable of. The 28-year-old won an ATP 500 title at Rio de Janeiro in 2019, dedicating the victory to his parents. He has climbed as high as No. 27 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and earned three Top 10 wins.

“He did have a lot of struggles with his family and private issues, had to endure all of that. So it says a lot about his mental resilience,” Djokovic said. “He’s, as I said, a very nice guy, very humble. Just very quiet. Just goes about his things, works as hard as anybody and tries his best.

“He’s really dedicated to the game. I really like him as a person and as a player, as well.”

Djere has played some of his best tennis in recent months. In Hamburg, he reached his second ATP 500 final before making the semi-finals in Kitzbuhel.

“The good game is the result of many, many hours of practice. And it’s hard work. And sometimes you also need a little bit of luck, a little bit of a push,” Djere said. “Now, I’m feeling great. I feel confident I am showing good tennis in the last couple of months. And obviously, when you have confidence, things tend to go much easier on the court.”

Following early upsets at the US Open, three Americans — Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe — have a big opportunity to make a move in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Fritz reached the semi-finals at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals, while his countrymen have an opportunity to move into qualifying position with a big run at the season’s final major.

Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin

^{*Eliminated from US Open} 
With early exits by fifth-placed Stefanos Tsitsipas and seventh-placed Holger Rune, eighth-placed Fritz has a big chance to consolidate his standing. Into the third round at Flushing Meadows, the American currently has 2,740 points. Another win would put him at 2,830 points and a run to the quarter-finals would give him 3,010 points, moving him within 45 points of Rune.

Fritz will play Jakub Mensik on the Czech’s 18th birthday Friday and if he wins, would not face a seeded opponent in the fourth round. Second seed Novak Djokovic is his projected quarter-final opponent.

Two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev is in ninth place, just 35 points behind Fritz, putting him in a similar position to the American. The German has reached the semi-finals and final in his past two US Open appearances.

When 10th-placed Casper Ruud lost on Wednesday evening, that opened the door for players behind him to surge, particularly those on the bottom half of the draw.

Twelfth-placed Tommy Paul and 13th-placed Frances Tiafoe are the highest-ranked players in their quarter of the draw and could meet in the quarter-finals. A semi-final yields a player 720 points at Grand Slam tournaments. Such a gain would put either man firmly in Turin contention.

Alex de Minaur, who is in the top half of the draw, is in 11th place in the Live Race. Like Paul and Tiafoe, the recent Toronto finalist is also trying to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.

Did You Know?
Two players have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals: Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. The Spaniard is set to compete at the season finale for the first time after withdrawing last year due to injury, while the Serbian will try to successfully defend his 2022 title at the Pala Alpitour.