Youngster Rafael Jodar Aims to Continue His Clay-Court Form at Wimbledon

From competing in the ITF and ATP Challenger last year, Rafael Jodar is currently ranked in the Top 25 in the ATP rankings. He now has a seeded place at the Wimbledon Championships, marking his debut at the tournament. The 19-year-old now seeks to continue with his brilliant form in this grass-court season.

Jodar has been one of the biggest sensations on tour in the last two months. His best run on tour before the clay season was a third-round exit at the Miami Open. He burst onto the scene at the Marrakech Open, winning his maiden ATP tour-level title. He then continued with the form at the Barcelona Open, where he got to the semi-finals.

The youngster claimed his first top 10 win at the Madrid Open, beating Australian star Alex de Minaur in straight sets. He reached the quarter-finals of the home tournament before losing to the eventual champion, Jannik Sinner. At the Italian Open, he reached the same heights and earned his first French Open main-draw victory in Paris.

He reached the quarter-finals of the French Open after showing he can compete at the highest level. However, he couldn’t get past the eventual Roland Garros champion Alexander Zverev. However, last year, Jodar was a university student ranked World No. 707 in the ATP rankings; he has now climbed to No. 23.

He’s set to kick off his grass-court season at the Queen’s Club Championships, following in the footsteps of seven-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz, who often likes to play in Queen’s before Wimbledon. In an interview with Movistar via Puntodebreak, Jodar admitted that he aims to continue with his clay-court form on grass and eventually get better ahead of the Wimbledon Championship:

I’m very eager. Roland Garros gave me a lot of confidence, now I know a different surface is coming, but I will try to approach it in the best way possible. I have two tournaments to prepare for Wimbledon, so I am very excited to face it in the best possible way. It will be my first Wimbledon, so I really look forward to playing my first Grand Slam on grass. Match by match, as always, and with the same mentality as always, giving my all on the court.

Jodar will need time to smoothly transition from clay to grass. He revealed during the aforementioned interview that he has been training in Madrid ahead of the Queen’s Club Championships, but he grew up playing on clay, which made it easier for him to have those runs in clay-court tournaments.

Rafael Nadal gives his verdict on Rafael Jodar’s astonishing rise on tour

Rafael Nadal has retired from professional tennis, but still remains one of the most valuable figures in the sport. Having won 22 Grand Slams, including 14 French Open titles, he often gives advice to players when necessary. Since the rise of Rafael Jodar on tour, several former Spanish players and coaches have praised him, but Nadal is not in a hurry to follow the bandwagon.

Jodar has taken the place of Carlos Alcaraz in the Spanish media due to the latter’s absence from the tour. In an interview with Puntodebreak, Nadal revealed that Jodar’s future in the sport boils down to his willingness to improve. He cited Alcaraz’s improvement on tour, pointing out that it made him win Grand Slams on tour:

With young players, I always say the same thing: their potential for improvement will determine their future. Carlos is already one of the best players in history, and the rest of us, even if we know they are very good, will have to wait to see their ability to improve day after day.

Alcaraz’s desire to improve despite his success on tour has been his standout quality. For a player to become World No.1 and win multiple Grand Slams, he has to continually improve, no matter how good he becomes, because the sport is a very competitive one, and there are lower-ranked players seeking to get better behind the scenes.

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