Does the French Open have the most hostile atmosphere among the four Grand Slam tournaments? Well, there have been a lot of reactions already from the tennis world on this. For example, David Goffin dubs the Parisian crowd as “totally disrespectful,” Arina Rodionova describes them as “especially feral,” and players like Alizé Cornet have even called them “a handful of idiots.” There is a very fine line between supporting and disruptive behavior, but here, things have become a bit different over the last few years. Novak Djokovic, a three-time champion (2016, 2021, 2023), also has struggled with the audience at Roland Garros, and now one of his biggest fans on the ATP Tour, Jakub Mensik, has become the newest target of the Parisian crowd. But why?

If we take a look back at this constant issue in the French Open, in 2023, Novak Djokovic faced several jeers and boos from the French Open crowd during his matches. Seeing that gesture from the crowd, he then gave spectators a round of applause (sarcastically) and also a thumbs-up. Later on, while speaking about this unruly behavior, he said, “I think the majority of the people come to enjoy tennis or support one or the other player. But there are people who love to boo every single thing you do. That’s something that I find disrespectful, and I frankly don’t understand that. But it’s their right. They paid for the ticket. They can do whatever they want. Actually, 99 percent of the time I will stay quiet, but sometimes I will oppose that because I feel when somebody is disrespectful, he or she deserves to have an answer to that.“

Several tennis experts, including John McEnroe, had shown their support towards the Serb by taking a jibe at the crowd for their “absurd” behavior. Even last year, while discussing the French Open crowd, Djokovic said, “They are very passionate fans. At times, they are not easy, and I have been having some love affairs with the fans here, and also some tough matches, some tough seasons.“ And now Czech star, Jakub Mensik, faced a similarly tough time in his first-round match against the Frenchman, Alexandre Muller.

Mensik was seen having a fiery encounter with the spectators during the match, and he was constantly bullied by the fans present inside the stadium. Things intensified in the third set of the match when Mensik took the lead. However, despite struggling physically in the later stages of that match, Mensik managed to defy both his body and the crowd by defeating Muller 7-5, 6(5)-7, 7-5, 6-3. Following this victory, he was spotted copying his idol, Novak Djokovic’s iconic mock orchestration to give it back to the French Open crowd. Renowned journalist Bastien Fachan shared that clip on his X handle with the caption, “Gotta love Mensik for shutting up the French crowd.“

Interesting Fact: Novak Djokovic did a similar celebration while reacting to the booing that he had received in his third-round match against Lorenzo Musetti at the 2024 Monte Carlo Masters.

The atmosphere was quite electric inside the stadium; many fans came up to support their local player. With this win, Jakub Mensik will now face Portugal’s Henrique Rocha in the second round. Looking at his struggles in this match, it didn’t look too concerning, it was more like cramps. Hopefully, the 19-year-old will get fully fit before his next match. Mensik has been in red-hot form this year!

Jakub Mensik defeated his idol, Novak Djokovic, in the final of the 2025 Miami Open

Just a couple of months ago, Jakub Mensik became the talk of the town when he defeated Novak Djokovic in the 2025 Miami Open final by 7-6(4),7-6(4). This was his second meeting with his idol. In the previous one (in Shanghai), he was defeated in a three-set thriller. With that win in Miami, Mensik has now put it on level terms (1-1) with his tennis idol.

Speaking about Novak Djokovic in 2024 during an interview, he said, “Because of him, I started to play tennis. When I was young and starting to play tennis, he was already at the top. So I was like, ‘Wow, he’s really good’. He [won] a lot of Grand Slams. And right now, when I’m 19 and he’s still playing, I have this chance to play against him.“

This year, he not only played against him but also outclassed him literally. After this match, Djokovic’s praise was more like a bonus for this youngster. Following this defeat in Miami, Djokovic said, “This is Jakub’s moment — moment of his team, moment of his family. Congratulations, unbelievable tournament. It hurts me to admit it, but you were better! In the clutch moments, you delivered the goods [with] unbelievable serving and just a phenomenal effort mentally as well to stay tough in a difficult moment.“

Even Coco Gauff’s ex-coach, Brad Gilbert, heaped praise on Jakub Mensik for his incredible victory at the 2025 Miami Open. “standing ovation 👏 for Mansik, came into @MiamiOpen with 8-6 record on the year, the 19-year-old gets his 1st @atptour 🏆 taking out Djoker 👊😎👌👍 💪 Holy Toledo.“

Jakub Mensik is currently ranked 19th in the world, and he has a win-loss record of 19-9 this season. His best records at the major tournaments have been reaching the third round (US Open and AO). Can he make it to the third round at the French Open as well?