Jacub Mensik was issued a code violation during his Queen’s Club match against Roberto Bautista Agut. The Czech star was frustrated after missing a break point at 1-3 down in the second set, and swiped his racquet at the ground. The racquet slipped from his grasp into the stands, prompting a stern warning from the chair umpire James Keothavong.
Mensik lost the Round of 16 tie 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, despite being seeded eighth for the HSBC Championship tournament. Many observers, including television pundits, suggested that the 19-year-old was fortunate not to be disqualified, and was only saved by the fact that the racquet did not strike a spectator.
Social media onlookers were unforgiving in their view of Mensik’s actions.
One X user suggested that Mensik received special treatment from the umpire and that Novak Djokovic would have been punished more severely had he behaved similarly. He said:
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"Jakub Mensik has just thrown his racquet on purpose in the crowd. Imagine if Novak Djokovic did this? Defaulted and fined."
Another X user, JRR Tolkien, suggested that Jakub Mensik's on-court demeanor is a threat to other players. The comment read:
"This guy is a menace and will hurt someone in the court again."
A third X account, ZMAfIAZ, was just happy that, despite the distraction, Bautista Agut was able to hold his nerve and put Mensik out of the tournament. The comment read:
"Glad RBA cooked his ass"
Another X User, Gabriel Machado, criticized Mensik's temperament on the court. He wrote:
"This guy's mental is pathetic."
Jakub Mensik broke through earlier this year at the Miami Open. As an unseeded player, he defeated legend Novak Djokovic in the final, 7-6(4), 7-6(4) to win his first ATP tour title.
Jakub Mensik struggles to repeat Miami Open heroics
After Jakub Mensik's win in Miami in March, the Czech player has struggled to replicate that form. One quarterfinal in Madrid, where he was beaten by Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-7(5), 2-6, has been his best achievement since then. He was dumped out of the French Open in the second round by Henrique Rocha.
Mensik's lack of form might have been responsible for his loss of discipline at Queen's. Pat Cash, the former Wimbledon champion, was commentating on the match for the BBC and felt Mensik was lucky to be allowed to continue the match, per Express.co.uk. He said:
“Did that racket end up in the crowd? Oh dear. Oh my god. He's lucky there is nobody in the crowd because he would've been defaulted for that. It clearly slipped out of his hand and he didn't mean to do that but he would have got a warning for that. He's lucky there's nobody in the crowd or he would've been on his way back to the hotel.”
At 19, Mensik is still young and has plenty of time to develop. In Miami, he beat Taylor Fritz and Jack Draper en route to the final, so he has a big future ahead of him.
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