Not to be outdone by young American Iva Jovic's marathon win on Saturday, 20-year-old Learner Tien produced his own tennis magic with a five set win over Jakub Mensik at the 2026 US Open.
Tien is coached by another former young tennis superstar, 1989 French Open winner Michael Chang. He etches himself in tennis history by being the youngest American man to make it to the US Open fourth round since Andy Roddick in 2002, a year before Roddick won his US Open ******* le.
MORE: Iva Jovic made a relatable admission after defeating Alexandra Eala in US Open thriller
He is not always the first of the 21-and-under generation that comes to mind among his peers: Arthur Fils, Joao Fonseca, and Mensik.
However, his game continues to improve, and Tien is becoming elite and beloved among his peers and fans.

#open #tennis #american #year

The U.S. Open promises another tournament of action, fashion and Honey Deuces.
The competition opens for its first day of tennis on Sunday, Aug. 30 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. Back-to-back women's champion Aryna Sabalenka and Alexander Zverev are the top seeds of the women's and men's singles draw.
Last year's men's champion, Carlos Alcaraz, already spent time on the courts this week when he appeared in the mixed doubles competition with Serena Williams. They made it to the quarterfinals. Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik won the competition. It was the first major win for both of them.
Williams' sister, Venus, will be playing as a wild card in this year's U.S. Open. She won the competition twice, in 2000 and 2001. This tournament, her journey starts against fellow American Sofia Kenin in primetime at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

#first #champion

Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik saved two match points on their way to the US Open mixed doubles ****** le and $1m in prize money.
Mensik hit a 131mph ace on a third championship point to seal a 6-3 1-6 10-6 win in the final against Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli.
That victory came after they saved match points in their semi-final against Andrey Rublev and Mirra Andreeva.
It is a first Grand Slam ****** le for both players and comes just over six weeks after Muchova was beaten by compatriot Linda Noskova in the Wimbledon final.
The 30-year-old has been out of action since after undergoing a "small surgery".

#final #muchova #mensik #open

Czechia continues to have a great summer as Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik win the 2026 US Open mixed doubles.
Muchova earns a long-awaited Grand Slam ****** le after two previous finals singles appearances at the 2023 French Open and last month's Wimbledon final where she lost a heartbreaker to compatriot Linda Noskova.
Mensik, whose biggest win to date was defeating Novak Djokovic at the 2025 Miami Open, looked like a natural doubles star. He has not played much doubles tennis in his young career. Mensik crowded the net and played great defensive tennis while delivering his trademark big serves.
MORE: Leylah Fernandez will wear footwear from a new brand at 2026 US Open
Muchova shared that Mensik was the reason they dressed alike. He texted her the night before they took the court for the first time on August 25 coordinating their outfits. In her victory speech, she joked that the matching outfits worked.

#doubles #great

Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik won the US Open's unique mixed doubles tournament on Wednesday, taking home a $1 million grand prize (or $500,000 each). Which isn't bad for two days' work.
As the clock neared midnight in New York City, the Czechs defeated Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 1-6, 10-6 in front of a crowd thinned out by the late hour. Both teams had already played a three-set semifinal earlier in the evening.
The 30-year-old Muchova and 20-year-old Mensik, who were unseeded, won the later semifinal against the Russian pairing of Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev. With a turnaround of less than an hour, they pounced early, breaking Bencic's serve and coasting to a first-set win.
Bencic and Cobolli, seeded No. 4, bounced back to take the second set in lopsided fashion, but a run of four straight points in the 10-point third-set tiebreaker left the Czechs with room for error.
The big-serving Mensik closed things out with a 131-mph ace.

#hour #semifinal

NEW YORK (AP) — Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli advanced to the U.S. Open mixed doubles final Wednesday night by rallying to end the run of spouses Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils.
Bencic and Cobolli won 4-5 (7), 4-1 (10-5) and waited to return to the Arthur Ashe Stadium court later against the winner of the second semifinal. Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik faced Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev in that one.
The winning team receives $1 million.
Bencic and Cobolli knocked Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz out of the tournament Tuesday in the quarterfinals.
Then they dropped a set for the first time in the tournament, but began to dominate midway through the second set, winning the final 11 points to force a match tiebreaker.

#cobolli

Serena Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, and second-ranked Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, a seven-time Slam singles winner, will compete together in US Open mixed doubles, organizers announced Saturday.
The US Tennis ******* ociation announced mixed doubles pairings topped by 44-year-old American Williams making her return to the US Open for the first time since 2022.
Williams, a six-time US Open singles champion, captured the 1998 US Open mixed doubles ******* le with Max Mirnyi.
She and Alcaraz received one of the last three wildcard entries into the main draw for mixed doubles, with other spots going to Czechs Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik and Americans Emma Navarro and Tommy Paul.
Williams played women's doubles with her sister Venus for the first time since 2022 at Cincinnati but lost in the first round.

#singles

Ben Shelton successfully defended his ***** le at the Canadian Open on Thursday, defeating fellow American Brandon Nakashima, 6-3, 7-6(4), in Montreal. It's Shelton's second ATP 1000 tournament win.
He became the seventh man in the Open era to go back-to-back in the event. Rafael Nadal was the last to win in both Toronto and Montreal — the men's and women's tournaments alternate sites each year — in 2018-19.
Shelton didn't drop a set in six matches against top-75 opponents. After a bye in the first round, he defeated No. 74 Jenson Brooksby, 6-3, 7-5, in the round of 64 and No. 34 Zizou Bergs, 6-3, 6-2, in the round of 32. No. 27 Joao Fonesca fell, 6-3, 7-6(3), sending Shelton to the quarterfinals, where he beat No. 17 Jakub Mensik, 6-3, 6-1.
The semifinal between Shelton and Learner Tien, served as a revenge match of sorts. The last time the two faced off was at Indian Wells, a Masters 1000 tournament, and Tien upset Shelton. This time, the former Gator emerged victorious in dominant fashion, 6-2, 6-3.
Shelton had struggled in Masters 1000s all year, coming into the Canadian Open with a 1-4 record, including four straight losses. Despite winning an ATP 500 tournament (Dallas) and an ATP 250 tournament (Munich), Shelton had seen several early exits since falling to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open — in January. Most notably, he was knocked out in the round of 64 at Roland Garros and suffered a first-round loss at Wimbledon.

#tournament

Defending champion Ben Shelton kept a clean slate at the ATP Montreal Masters on Sunday, holding off a challenge from Joao Fonseca to power 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) into the quarter-finals.
World number 10 Shelton has not dropped a set in reaching the last eight. The 23-year-old American left-hander will face the winner of a later match between Botic Van De Zandschulp and 13th seed Jakub Mensik.
Brazilian teenager Fonseca, billed as one of the faces for the future of the sport, might have compromised his own chances when he landed badly on his ankle after missing a smash while leading 3-1, 40-30 in the second set.
The youngster was plagued by 32 unforced errors as his opponent mastered an annoying evening wind to earn the victory.
"It was tough today, not easy conditions," Shelton said. "With the wind I struggled to find footing on a lot of **** .

#shelton #wind

NEW YORK (AP) — An additional 13 teams, one featuring Venus Williams and some comprised of married couples, have entered the U.S. Open mixed doubles championship.
The new duos announced Monday by the U.S. Tennis ***** ociation raised the total to 29 teams for the 16 spots in the main draw, which will be held on Aug. 25 and Aug. 26.
Williams is partnering with Alexander Bublik for the tournament that was overhauled last year, with a $1 million prize to the winning team, in an effort to get top singles players to compete. Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and 24-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic headlined the initial list of 16 teams who entered.
Elina Svitolina and her husband Gael Monfils, who is expected to play his final Grand Slam event at the U.S. Open, and newlyweds Katie Boulter and Alex De Minaur also were among the new entries.
The other new teams: Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik, Anna Kalinskaya and Lorenzo Musetti, Emma Navarro and Tommy Paul, Maria Sakkari and Karen Khachanov, Tatjana Maria and Valentin Vacherot, Reese Brantmeier and Michael Zheng, Jelena Ostapenko and Marcelo Arevalo, Gabriela Dabrowski and Harri Heliovaara, Demi Schuurs and Julian Cash, and Caty McNally and Robert Cash.

#teams #grand #maria #singles

Laver Cup veteran Casper Ruud fills out Team Europe roster for 2026 edition originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Team Europe has added a Laver Cup veteran to complete its roster for the 2026 edition.
World No. 13 Casper Ruud finishes off captain Yannick Noah's six-man roster in what will be Ruud's sixth straight Laver Cup appearance. Ruud joins Alexander Zverev (World No. 2), Carlos Alcaraz (World No. 3), Flavio Cobolli (World No. 9), Jakub Mensik (World No. 17) and Rafael Jodar (World No. 24) to take on Team World from Sept. 25-27 at the O2 in London.
Jodar is the lone new addition from last year's team that lost to Team World 15-9 in San Francisco. He is replacing Holger Rune.
"Casper is exactly the type of player you want on your team," Noah said. "He's a fantastic competitor, a great teammate and someone who really embraces what the Laver Cup is all about. I'm really happy to have him back on Team Europe."

#World #laver #jodar #veteran

There were more than five hours on the clock and yet Novak Djokovic was still not done. As Centre Court shook, Djokovic’s 11-year-old son, Stefan, watched on with his head in his hands, up way past his bedtime but gripped by what his father was producing. Felix Auger-Aliassime stood over a forehand and sensed his moment to strike but Djokovic, in a flash, sprung to his right deep behind the baseline, extending the point and the Canadian third seed’s torment. Auger-Aliassime netted and it broke him; the decisive point in the match tiebreak that settled the longest Wimbledon quarter-final ever, a victory that Djokovic ranked as one of his finest ever on Centre Court.
“These are the moments I still play for,” said Djokovic. If the scoreline - 7-6 (10), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (10-4) - is scarcely believable in itself, the sight of Djokovic, at 39, stretching his limbs and denying the 25-year-old Auger-Aliassime in five hours and 15 minutes, was sheer madness. It equalled the longest match of Djokovic’s Wimbledon career, eight years on from the 2018 semi-final with Rafael Nadal that was held overnight. Djokovic managed this in one epic, gruelling sitting. When the moment required it, he once again raised his level, booking a semi-final with defending champion Jannik Sinner on Friday.
The celebrations were memorable, the victory too - a battle Djokovic prevailed from in front of his children on Centre Court adding to the sweetness. And yet the message afterwards from Djokovic was that he is not done yet. The records - an eighth consecutive Wimbledon semi-final, the 15th of his career - did not matter. “Right now, it's all business,” Djokovic confirmed. The pursuit of the grand slam record and a 25th ***** le is what fuelled his extraordinary fight and refusal to submit, and yet it is still two rounds away. ”I wish it was finals so I don't need to worry about how the body will feel tomorrow,” Djokovic said.
And there could lie the problem. At this stage of his career, and since the gold medal match against Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 Olympics, Djokovic’s finest victories have arrived before the final. Last season, the quarter-finals of grand slams fell in the the sweet spot where Djokovic was fresh enough to compete against younger opponents, but late enough in the tournament where he knew he needed to step it up. He did, in defeating Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open, Alexander Zverev at the French Open, Flavio Cobolli at Wimbledon and Taylor Fritz at the US Open. Outlasting Auger-Aliassime at Wimbledon is another added to the list.
Djokovic, though, arrived at those semi-finals and found that he was physically cooked, unable to recover for the next challenge. The exception came at the Australian Open in January, and was memorable in itself with Djokovic ending Sinner’s reign in Melbourne by beating the world No 1 in five sets. But that followed a different sort of tournament for Djokovic, after his fourth-round opponent Jakub Mensik withdrew an

Grigor Dimitrov made an emotional winning return to Centre Court as he defeated Matteo Berrettini in five sets to set up an all-wildcard clash with British Arthur Fery at Wimbledon.
Last year, Dimitrov’s Wimbledon campaign ended in a painful retirement as he led eventual champion Jannik Sinner by two sets in the last-16 on Centre Court. It was the fifth consecutive grand slam where the 35-year-old had retired from a grand slam due to injury, with the pectoral train forcing him to also miss the US Open, a withdrawal which ended a streak of 58 consecutive grand slam appearances.
Prior to Wimbledon, Dimitrov’s ranking plummeted to 146 in the world after winning just five matches this season, with the Bulgarian requiring a wildcard to enter the main draw at Wimbledon. But after making a winning return to the All England Club, the former world No 3 is now back in the fourth round after beating 15th seed Jakub Mensik and former finalist Matteo Berrettini in his last two matches.
"After the way I exited last year, I'll never know what would've happened, but guess what this year I'm back here and I'm able to rewrite everything again,” Dimitrov said after his 6-3 6-4 3-6 5-7 6-3 win against Berrettini, a victory that lasted three hours and 30 minutes.
“I'm just trying to be completely honest here and vulnerable with you guys. It's not about the winning it's just for me to overcome every obstacle that I have in front of me.”

As Grigor Dimitrov battled to another significant victory on his return to Wimbledon, 12 months on from his devastating injury-enforced exit, he began to feel an ominous sense of deja vu.
Almost a year to the day that Dimitrov left Centre Court in tears after being denied the chance to complete a spectacular victory over world number one Jannik Sinner, the roof began to close on Court One.
Before a 10-minute break to close the Centre Court roof in 2025, the Bulgarian, once nicknamed 'baby Fed' because of the similarity of his game to the great Roger Federer, had been playing some of his best tennis in years.
As the wildcard closed in on a superb four-set victory over Czech 15th seed Jakub Mensik on Thursday, Dimitrov's mind naturally flashed back to the night which has defined his journey since.
"I looked up four or five times, hoping that I was going to finish the match before they decided to close the roof," Dimitrov said.

Alexander Zverev and Flavio Cobolli are set to face off in Sunday’s French Open final in Paris, but there is more to this match than the usual Grand Slam stakes.
Zverev reached the final with a four-set win over Jakub Mensik, coming through 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on Friday.
Cobolli advanced after Matteo Arnaldi withdrew due to illness, sending the Italian into his first Grand Slam final.
Zverev is still searching for his first major **** le. Cobolli is stepping into the biggest match of his career.
Their storyline is shaped as much by friendship as competition. Zverev has explained how the two became close during the 2024 Laver Cup in Berlin, a bond that now adds a personal twist to their Paris showdown.

Alexander Zverev is heading back to the Roland Garros final for the second time in his career.
The world number three has been under a lot of pressure in Paris, but he has only dropped two sets en route to the final.
Since then, Zverev has had all eyes on him to deliver. He’s handled that weight well so far, dropping just two sets along the way.
After taking down Jakub Mensik 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 he spoke during his on-court interview and made a comment about the French crowd.
Zverev didn’t sound upset though. In fact, he seemed to appreciate how engaged and vocal they were throughout his run to the final.

Jakub Mensik reached the first Grand Slam semi-final of his career after beating Joao Fonseca at Roland Garros.
The 20-year-old also passed Ivan Lendl as the youngest Czech man in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam singles semi-final. Mensik beat Fonseca 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(3) on Court Philippe Chatrier to continue his breakthrough run in Paris.
The Czech player had to hold off a late push from Fonseca, who saved match points in the third set before Mensik closed out the tie break.
It secured Mensik’s place in the last four of a major for the first time and added another major milestone to what has become the biggest tournament of his young career.
Mensik’s reaction after match point reflected the scale of the occasion. After sealing victory, he pointed towards himself in celebration as he took in the moment on one of the biggest courts in tennis.

Alexander Zverev's pursuit of an elusive Grand Slam ***** le remained on track with a comprehensive victory over highly-rated teenager Rafael Jodar putting him into the French Open semi-finals.
Second seed Zverev is the highest-ranked man left in the singles draw after a series of shock exits in Paris and he will face Czech 26th seed Jakub Mensik for a place in Sunday's final.
Mensik won in straight sets against Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca in Tuesday's night session.
German Zverev has long been tipped for Grand Slam glory but is yet to get over the line, losing in three finals and seven semi-finals.
He came up short against Carlos Alcaraz in the 2024 French Open final, despite leading by two sets to one, and has fallen three times in the Paris last four alone.