Why Andre Agassi 'not a big fan' of surprising Jakub Mensik decision before huge French Open semi-final with Alexander Zverev at Roland-Garros

Andre Agassi admitted he was "not a big fan" of Jakub Mensik bringing in his mental coach for the Czech's French Open semi-final defeat to Alexander Zverev.

Instead, the 1999 Roland-Garros champion suggested that the 20-year-old should have opted for familial support in his first-ever final-four appearance at a Grand Slam.

Mensik's mental coach, Dragan Vujovic, has been with him since the youngster was 13 years old, and arrived in Paris on Thursday evening, the night before his showdown with Zverev, which the German won in a gruelling four-set battle.

Having navigated a testing draw - including seeing off No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur, No. 11 seed Andrey Rublev, and Novak Djokovic's conqueror Joao Fonseca - Mensik was in unchartered waters at the business end of this major.

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But Agassi was not convinced by Mensik's call to enlist the help of Vujovic, saying that he only saw "a downside" to parachuting in the Serbian.

"I'm not a big fan of bringing in a mental coach in the semi-finals of a Slam. You're supposed to bring in your mum at that stage," said Agassi.

"Like, 'come on, mum, you've got to come watch me play the semis'. But bringing in a mental coach? I don't know. It seems like there's only a downside for that mental coach."

Mensik, who already has an ATP Masters 1000 title to his name after beating Djokovic in the final of the 2025 Miami Open, was put through the ringer in his journey to the final four.

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The No. 26 seed defeated quarter-finalist Fonseca and first-round wildcard Titouan Droguet in straight sets, but all of his other encounters have produced significant resistance.

Mensik collapsed on court after his five-set thriller against Mariano Navone, was bagelled in his third-round match-up against De Minaur, and subsequently battled for almost four hours to overcome Rublev.

"We want to talk about his mentality? In his second-round match he was wheeled off the court basically, came back from a set down where he lost 6-0 to De Minaur," said TNT Sports expert Sam Querrey.

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"He's been pretty much flawless when it comes to the mentality and overcoming obstacles this entire week.

"I'm with Andre there. Why change things up at this point? Bring your mum in, bring your sister in, your brother, your friend, not your mental coach."

And TNT Sports expert Caroline Wozniacki was also in agreement, pointing out there would have been a far simpler alternative to guaranteeing his mental coach's presence at Roland-Garros.

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Video credit: SNTV

Wozniacki said: "You have phones, right? So you can call your mental coach.

"If you have any questions, if you're feeling nervous, call him and say, 'Hey, I'm feeling nervous.' He can give you a few pointers.

"But spending time, wasting energy on sitting down in meetings before your semi-finals? I just don't feel like [that is the way to go]."

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