Meet the new Rafa planning to conquer Roland Garros

Whisper it quietly: there is a new Rafa in town at the French Open.

No sooner had 14-time champion Rafael Nadal waved goodbye than Rafael Jodar – the latest talent from the Spanish production line – announced his arrival.

Last year, 19-year-old Jodar was a university student ranked 707th in the world when Nadal, who had retired several months earlier, was given an emotional Roland Garros send-off.

Now, on his main-draw debut on the Paris clay, Jodar has emerged as a dark horse for the Coupe des Mousquetaires.

If the 27th seed can find a way past German Alexander Zverev in Tuesday’s quarter-final, he will become the new favourite to be victorious on Sunday.

“On one hand, it would have been unthinkable a few months ago that Jodar could even be competing in a Grand Slam,” Spanish tennis journalist Alejandro Ciriza told BBC Sport.

“But, on the other hand, his progress has been so rapid that it seems natural that he should be playing in the later rounds of such tournaments.”

Contrary to spurious online rumours, Jodar is not named in homage to Nadal.

He shares the name with the 22-time major winner through family tradition, as his father and grandfather were also named Rafael.

But there does seem to be a sense of nominative determination for the youngest Jodar, who – like every aspiring Spanish player – idolises Nadal.

Jodar’s path was carved at his local club in the upmarket Madrid suburb of Chamartin before he demonstrated his global potential by winning the 2024 US Open boys’ title.

Days later, he was called up as a hitting partner for the Spanish Davis Cup team in Valencia and instantly impressed the nation’s stars.

“He was a skinny kid, obviously, but you could already see he played very well, even on an indoor court,” said two-time US Open semi-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta, who was Jodar’s latest victim in their fourth-round match on Sunday.

“With those levers, the big hitting, hogging the baseline, he was already showing real promise.”

Still, his rise from a freshman at the University of Virginia to a Grand Slam quarter-finalist has been meteoric.

Jodar enrolled in the United States college system in 2025 to gain valuable experience – like many other professional players – and living away from home also benefited his development, he says.

The time in the US has undoubtedly honed the maturity, discipline and competitiveness he shows on court.

Jodar quickly started combining college time with playing ATP Challenger Tour events, watching last year’s French Open on television – between matches at a little-known second-rung tournament in Texas.

Another formative experience was competing at the ATP Next Gen Finals – for the world’s best players aged under 20 – before he decided to forfeit his college status to turn professional.

“It was a great year for me. I learned a lot. I played a lot of matches, and I developed a lot as a tennis player and as a person,” Jodar said.

The focus has sharpened since fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz announced a wrist injury had put paid to his hopes of winning a third straight French Open title.

The first sign of Jodar’s ability on the clay came when he reached the Barcelona semi-finals.

He further showcased his aggressive baseline game to reach the Madrid Open quarter-finals – where the home fans instantly took him to their hearts – and then the last eight at the Italian Open.

Those runs led to some prescient analysis from Toni Nadal, who famously coached his nephew Rafa to 16 of his major titles.

“In a very short period of time [Jodar] has become, in my opinion, the best player of this new generation and the one with the greatest potential,” Toni Nadal wrote in his column for Spanish newspaper El País.

“I believe that in a few years – and I’m almost certainly wrong, it will be a few months – Rafa will become one of the best tennis players in the world.”

Going into the French Open, Jodar was considered by some bookmakers to be the fourth favourite.

That seemed fanciful, but their confidence has proved well-placed.

After starting with a routine win over American Aleksandar Kovacevic, Jodar needed four sets to beat Australia’s James Duckworth, although his progress has become increasingly complicated.

Jodar won the first set against American Alex Michelsen but still had to come through in five sets, then fought back from two sets down against Carreno Busta.

One of Jodar’s greatest strengths is remaining composed when the ball is in play, although tension can spill over between points.

Jodar regularly remonstrates with his father, who still coaches him, and one of those occasions against Michelsen led to an accusation that he had pushed a ball girl.

A strong denial came, with the defence that the girl tripped over a court cover, which, at another angle, later seemed to indicate was correct.

He quickly put the controversy with Carreno Busta behind him as his tennis became the talking point again.

The gutsy victory means he has won 19 clay-court matches this year – more than any other player on the ATP Tour.

Can Jodar win three more matches at Roland Garros and go all the way?

Jodar does not feel “in a rush” to achieve great things, but has little intention of slowing down in Paris.

“I will go with the belief – as I have done in all my matches – that if I do the things well, I can take the win,” he said.

If Jodar can topple second seed Zverev – now the title favourite in an exciting tournament blown wide open – he will edge closer to becoming the first teenage man to win since 2005.

The last one? Jodar’s most famous namesake.

المصدر: MyJoyOnline (GH)