
Jakub Mensik's swift career rise can explode with US Open run
In 2023, he made his Grand Slam debut as a pro at 17 years old in Flushing, Queens, and went on a historic run.
He broke out and reached the third round as a qualifier, which made him the youngest man to win a main draw match at the U.S. Open in nine years.
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To kick off this year, the Czech teenager was aiming for his first ATP title and he did it quickly in March, winning the ATP Masters 1000 Miami tournament in stunning fashion.

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Forbes
2 minutes ago
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‘Shocking' - World No. 1 Jannik Sinner Retires Against Carlos Alcaraz In Cincinnati Final
The latest chapter of the Jannik Sinner-Carlos Alcaraz rivalry took a stunning turn on Monday when world No. 1 Sinner retired in the first set of the Cincinnati Open final due to an unspecified health issue. Sinner threw in the towel down 5-0 to No. 2 Alcaraz in the final after he clearly was not right to start the match. Alcaraz won his 22nd ATP title and sixth this year. 'I'm super, super sorry to disappoint you,' Sinner told the fans at the trophy presentation. 'From yesterday I didn't feel great. I thought that I would improve during the night but it came up worse. So I tried to come out, trying to make it at least a small match but I couldn't handle more, so I'm very, very sorry for all of you.' It was the sixth career retirement for Sinner, the reigning U.S. Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon champion. 'It's just shocking, really shocking,' Jim Courier said on Tennis Channel. 'We'll find out eventually, once Jannik does speak to the press, about what the root cause is because he's been able to play through these conditions [in the heat]Courier added: 'It's a tough one…The effects of whatever are hitting Jannik Sinner [were] just too great for him to overcome today, which is such a shame for everyone.' Sinner looked fine on Saturday when he dominated Frenchman Terence Atmane, 7-6(4), 6-2, in the semifinals. Alcaraz now leads the head-to-head with Sinner 9-5 and has won six of the last seven matchups. Sinner had beaten Alcaraz in four sets in the Wimbledon final after Alcaraz came from two sets down to beat the Italian in the Roland Garros final. The two men have combined to win the last seven major titles and are the favorites to win an eighth next month at the U.S. Open. Both men are scheduled to play Mixed Doubles at the Open beginning Tuesday, but it doesn't look good for Sinner at this point. Sinner was originally slated to play with American Emma Navarro before she opted to play a singles event in Monterrey, Mexico instead. Sinner then paired up with Kateřina Siniaková "She's going to need a replacement [partner]'Sinner should have time to recover before his first singles match at the U.S. Open. That could come as early as Sunday.'


USA Today
31 minutes ago
- USA Today
Former Ryder Cup captain to help lay out new golf course in Wisconsin
Wisconsin native and former Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker will serve as a player consultant on a new course to be built in the southern section of the state less than an hour from Milwaukee. Stricker will join forces with Jackson Kahn Design and architect Scott Hoffman to lay out what will be become the private Kettle Forge in Ashippun. Wisconsin already is one of the best golf states in the U.S., especially on the public-access side with destinations such as Whistling Straits and the other courses at Kohler, Sand Valley and Erin Hills. Kettle Forge, with an anticipated opening in 2027, is about eight miles west of Erin Hills, which hosted the 2015 U.S. Open as well as this year's U.S. Women's Open. Nebraska-based Landscapes Unlimited will build the course on 270 acres. Its sister company, Landscapes Golf Management, will operate the club as well as oversee the course grow-in and handle membership sales at Kettle Forge. 'This is pure, unadulterated golf without tennis and swimming,' Bill Kubly – chairman of Landscapes Unlimited, a principal of Kettle Forge and a Wisconsin native – said in a media release announcing the course. 'Based on our work at Lost Rail outside Omaha, Kettle Forge is likely to reach a full membership before the course opens.' The Kettle in the name refers to local glacial kettles (steep-sided hollows) and mounds in the landscape. Holes on the 7,600-yard course will traverse wetlands and feature wide fairways across dramatic elevation changes. The clubhouse and guest cottages will be located atop a big hill with 20-mile panoramic views. 'Kettle Forge will uniquely look like a natural preserve with grasses, wildflowers and wetlands,' Brett Craig – a Wisconsin resident, former president and COO of Transitions Optical and a principal of Kettle Forge – said in the media release. 'It promises to be a course that attracts repeat play – fair to members yet exhilaratingly difficult for those who desire challenge amid rugged elegance and timeless appeal.'


NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
There's a $1 million prize and big names for 2025 US Open mixed doubles. Why are some people upset?
Grand Slam singles champions such as Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek and Madison Keys will be playing for a little extra money — OK, a lot of extra money, by any standard: $1 million to the winning duo — and trying to get their hands on a trophy in the U.S. Open's overhauled mixed doubles tournament. The best of the best at doubles, meanwhile, are not so excited about what one of last year's mixed champions in New York, Sara Errani, labeled 'sad' and 'nonsense' in an interview with The Associated Press. She and Andrea Vavassori, who'll be defending their title, are the only true doubles team competing Tuesday and Wednesday at Flushing Meadows. A year ago, only two highly ranked singles players participated. 'It would be like if, at the Olympics, they didn't let the actual high jumpers participate, and instead had basketball players compete in the high jump because it's more 'interesting.' If you want to do that, I guess you can, but you can't award them medals,' Errani said. 'You can't have a Grand Slam doubles (trophy) and not let doubles players take part. ... You're excluding them from their sport. It's dishonest.' Who is playing in the 2025 U.S. Open mixed doubles tournament? The top seeds, based on their combined singles rankings, are Jessica Pegula, the 2024 U.S. Open runner-up, and Jack Draper, a semifinalist a year ago. He's onto his third partner after Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen and former No. 2 Paula Badosa withdrew with injuries. Their initial opponents might be the most-anticipated pairing: five-time Slam champ Alcaraz and 2021 U.S. Open winner Emma Raducanu. Other teams include Sinner and 10-time major doubles champion Katerina Siniakova, Swiatek and Casper Ruud, Keys and Frances Tiafoe, Venus Williams and Reilly Opelka, Taylor Fritz and Elena Rybakina, Naomi Osaka and Gael Monfils, Novak Djokovic and Olga Danilovic, and Daniil Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva. 'It's going to count as a real Grand Slam. The prize money is great,' said Fritz, the runner-up to Sinner in singles at Flushing Meadows a year ago. 'We are 100% there to try to win it.' Said Tiafoe: 'Seeing the prize money, everyone was like, 'We're going, no matter what.'' What is different about mixed doubles at the U.S. Open? What's different? Put plainly: everything. That includes the top prize of $1 million a year after Errani and Vavassori split $200,000. Even the rules are changing, with sets played to four games instead of six until Wednesday's final, no-Ad scoring, and match tiebreakers instead of a third set. There are 16 teams instead of 32. The matches were shifted from the latter stages of the U.S. Open, overlapping with singles, to before next Sunday's start of the main singles brackets. Half the field is based on singles rankings, and the other half was simply chosen by the U.S. Tennis Association. That's how the singles stars got involved. It's also why some say the whole thing is a bit silly. Gaby Dabrowski, a Canadian who owns two major championships in mixed doubles and earned the women's doubles trophy at the 2023 U.S. Open, tried to get into the field with Felix Auger-Aliassime, but they were not among the USTA's wild-card selections. 'Do I think it's a true mixed doubles championship? No. Do I think it could help the sport of doubles in the end? It could,' Dabrowski said, 'but not if you can't have any doubles players play in it.' Why are some players upset about the U.S. Open mixed doubles changes? Like Errani or Dabrowski, doubles players aren't thrilled about being excluded and losing out on a payday. They also think it's generally demeaning to doubles specialists — even if the USTA thinks this can help boost the popularity of doubles. 'When you get the biggest names playing doubles, it does bring a bit more attention to it,' said Joe Salisbury, a British player who's won two Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles and four in men's doubles, 'but I'm not sure it's good for the doubles event, because it's not really a proper event. It's just a two-day exhibition.' Tournament director Stacey Allaster objects to that sort of characterization. 'Let's be absolutely crystal clear: This is a Grand Slam championship. It is not an exhibition,' Allaster said. 'We're sympathetic to the doubles specialists who don't like this change. ... (But) we know that when fans see top players competing ... this is going to inspire more fans to not only attend but to play tennis, and it's ultimately going to grow the sport.'