Notes from the Tour: 3 trophies already this season...

Thursday 3rd April 2025

It’s been a good start to the season for the three men we identified before a ball was hit…

Last week, Jakub Mensik became the latest big-odds, first-time champion on the tours…

The 19-year-old Czech beat Novak Djokovic in the ATP 1000 Miami Open final. Capping a remarkable tournament for young Jakub, who had started the event as a 250/1 rank outsider….

Mensik is the youngest of the three men named in our pre-season Ones to Watch in 2025 ‘Czech List’ Report. I sent out that document for free, just before Christmas.

The other two Czech men on that list have also made a winning start to the year…

• Jiri Lehecka kicked things off, with the 23-year-old winning his second career title. Taking home the ATP 250 Brisbane trophy in January, at odds of 22/1

• Followed by our third Czech name, Tomas Machac, collecting his first career title. Winning ATP 500 Acapulco as a 12/1 shot

It’s no surprise then, that our three men remain the Top 3 Czech male players in the official ATP rankings:

Those three Czech lads are very much Ones to Watch this season…

With three of the four Grand Slams still to come in 2025 - the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open…

As well as seven of the nine ATP ‘Masters’ 1000 events…

The next of those Masters events take place next week. Mensik has withdrawn, but Lehecka and Machac are both on the entry list for the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, which is the first clay-court Masters tournament of the year…

• Not a full Ones to Watch member yet? If you want to get your hands on ALL my big-odds, Each Way, tournament picks. Including Monte-Carlo next week. Get onboard here…

Another teenager in action tonight…

One young player I’m following on the women’s tour right now is Iva Jovic…

The 17-year-old American is through to the Last 16 at WTA Bogota. If she wins her next match tonight, Jovic will become the latest teenage record-breaker to make a quarter final on the WTA Tour…

• Julieta Pareja is even younger - and she’s already through to tomorrow’s Bogota quarter finals. The 16-year-old American is the youngest WTA quarter-finalist since a 15-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova in 2021… and Fruhvirtova is one of the women on our aforementioned Czech List

Ones to Watch members got on Iva Jovic at the start of the week, at standout odds of 66/1 - 40/1 Each Way in the Outright Winner betting for WTA Bogota…

Ahead of the start of play in Colombia today (6pm, UK time), Jovic is now trading at 16/1 at best.

While fellow American teenager Julieta Pareja is now 80/1, having gone off at 250/1…

• Not a full Ones to Watch member yet? If you want to get your hands on ALL my big-odds, Each Way, tournament picks. Including Monte-Carlo next week. Get onboard here…

Enjoy the tennis…

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Ones to Watch