By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Photo credit: Darrian Traynor/Getty
Hall of Famer boxer and devoted tennis player Sugar Ray Leonard famously described his adopted sport as “boxing without violence.”
Boxing is a blood sport.
Talented teenagers are turning tennis into a young blood sport at this Australian Open.
Nineteen-year-old Jakub Mensik pounded down 62 winners upsetting sixth-seeded Casper Ruud 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the Australian Open third round for the first time.
Two of the biggest upsets at this AO belong to teenagers.
Mensik’s assertive dismissal of former US Open finalist Ruud comes a day after 18-year-old Brazilian sensation Joao Fonseca blazed past ninth-seeded Andrey Rublev 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-6(5) in his major main-draw debut. Fonseca fired 51 winners in that match.
Already one of the Tour’s…
Leave a reply