Jakub Mensik\u2019s run to a first Grand Slam semi-final has been built, he says, on a body that is at last cooperating, even if it gave one last twinge in the interview room.<\/p>\n
Speaking after beating Jo\u00e3o Fonseca, the 20-year-old Czech broke off briefly mid-answer, appearing to feel a cramp, before waving it away: \u201cOh, but I\u2019m fine, sorry.\u201d It was a fitting footnote to a fortnight in which his physical condition has been the running subplot.<\/p>\n
Mensik had a scare during the match itself, feeling discomfort in his left leg late in the second set that disrupted his serve. \u201cI was afraid what it was,\u201d he said. \u201cFortunately it was just a tight muscle.\u201d The pain faded as the deciding set wore on, and he was able, in his words, to lock back in.<\/p>\n
The relief is cumulative. Mensik\u2019s clay season was derailed by illness \u2013 an infection in his toe before Monte-Carlo, then a virus that cost him a further fortnight \u2013 leaving him to reach Madrid on a few days\u2019 practice and no matches. By Paris, that was behind him. \u201cBefore Roland-Garros I was finally healthy,\u201d he said. \u201cI was super happy I could come good prepared, without any injury, playing pain-free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing free, period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jakub Mensik\u2019s run to a first Grand Slam semi-final has been built, he says, on a body that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-711883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}