Former World No. 1 compares Jakub Mensik’s serve to Roger Federer’s: ‘It’s elite’

The 2025 Miami Open ended in surprise when 19-year-old rising star Jakub Mensik defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win his first Masters 1000 title. Former World No. 1 Andy Roddick analyzed the match and revealed the one shot from the Czech player he was most impressed with: his serve. He even compared it to Roger Federer’s.

“My biggest takeaway is that serve is gonna win him a lot of matches when he is not playing perfectly in other parts of his game. His first serve is elite. His ability to hit all four corners of the same toss,” Roddick said on the April 1st episode of his podcast ‘Served with Roddick.’

“The guy would step up and hit his shot. He would miss forehands, he would miss backhands sometimes. But then, he had that kind of shooter’s mentality where it’s like ‘ok, this is the best path to where I can actually pull off these wins and so I’m gonna step up and do it’,” the 2003 US Open champion continued.

That’s when the comparison with Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion, came: “What made Federer a great server is that he could throw the ball over his head like a kick serve and then hit a slice out wide. So you never really had a total read so you never felt comfortable, Mensik’s able to hit bombs off the same toss.”

This is not the first time that Roddick has shared how difficult it was to read Federer’s serve. In 2020, he revealed that he struggled with the serve. He also revealed that the Swiss’ ability to return with little small movements was “frustrating.”

Mensik’s first Masters 1000: A new rising star

After Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s retirement, tennis officially entered a new era in which new stars, such as Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, emerged as the dominant players. However, soon enough, some teens have started to make some noise.

Mensik’s win over Djokovic could mark the beginning of a new splendid career. With his triumph in Miami, he became the first Czech to win an ATP Masters 1000 title since Tomas Berdych in 2005. Mensik has now reached a new career high of No. 24, after moving up more than 30 positions.