Jakub Mensik falls to Karen Khachanov but announces his arrival

Jakub Mensik has only played in three ATP tournaments. In his third, he made the finals of the Qatar Open but he lost to Karen Khachanov in straight sets. But while Mensik lost, he also served notice to the rest of the tour that he has the skills and poise to make a lot of proverbial noise on the tour extremely soon.

Mensik had a strong week even before the final as he defeated top seed Andrey Rublev and veteran greats Andy Murray and Gael Monfils. Throughout the week, Mensik seemed calm even when matches were their most stressful and showed off the kind of ball striking that should allow him to remain in nearly every match he plays.

Sure, the 18-year-old is going to struggle with consistency some, most likely. Every player does from time to time, even after playing for years, but Mensik also seems to have the ability to not get too upset with him. He prefers to celebrate his winners rather than beat himself up after an unforced error. This will be important in his growth.

Jakub Mensik loses the battle but will likely win the war

There were a number of big risers in the ATP rankings this week. When the rankings officially come out on Monday, Monfils will move up 100 spots to number 54, for instance. Argentina's Mariano Navone will move up 225 spots to number 76. But no less important is Mensik breaking into the top 100 for the first time as he will move up 165 spots to number 87. He also will take over the top spot in the Next Gen ATP rankings.

Mensik hits with power, has a bombastic serve, and moves extremely well. He needs to work on hitting his backhand with pace more consistently, but even though he lost to the veteran Khachanov, he did not go easily. The first sets went to the Russian but at 7-6(12). Maybe Mensik needs to work on his killer instinct a bit more but that simply comes with time.

The future of men's tennis is extremely bright. Not only are Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz 22 years old and younger, but Mensik is only 18. In a couple of years, he will probably be battling for Grand Slam titles, too. Heck, that could even happen as soon as this year.

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