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.
