Rafael Jodar has continued his impressive breakthrough at the Italian Open.
Jodar was ranked outside of the top 900 last year, when he was still attending the University of Virginia.
The Spaniard left the college in December last year, with Jodar reaching the Madrid Open quarterfinals and winning his first ATP title in Marrakech.
This has enabled Jodar to reach his career-high ranking of world number 34, and Brad Gilbert has now predicted the 19-year-old to climb even higher after his latest win in Rome.
Brad Gilbert and Rick Macci back Rafael Jodar to break the top 10 this year
Jodar has beaten Nuno Borges and Matteo Arnaldi to continue his impressive form at the Italian Open and reach the last-16 on his debut appearance.
The world number 34 will now play Learner Tien for a place in the Italian Open quarterfinals, which Coco Gauff’s former coach Gilbert has called the ‘best match of the tournament so far’ in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
In response to a comment about Jodar, Gilbert then backed the young Spaniard to make a push towards the top 10 in 2026.
He wrote, “The way he’s going he will push for top 10 this year.”
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Gilbert is not the only top tennis coach with this opinion, with the former mentor of both Serena and Venus Williams, Rick Macci, backing Jodar to be in the top 10 by the end of this year and win Grand Slams in the future.
Macci said on X, “Jodar is cut from a different Spanish cloth. He has that Spanish Bull mentality. Between his ears he is delivering the mail beyond his years.
“His game is evolving and complete and for a big guy has good feet. Top ten by year end and a few slams in the future will be his friend.”
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Jodar looks set to make his top 30 debut after the Italian Open, which would be enough for him to be seeded at Roland Garros later this month.
The Madrileños can take this even further if he keeps his run going in Rome, with Jodar even able to be ranked as high as world number 15 if he wins the Italian Open.
Jodar is actually already 16th in the race to the ATP Finals, as he has just 327 ranking points to defend until 2027.
| Italian Open 2026 | Where Rafael Jodar would be in the live rankings |
| Fourth Round | No.30 |
| Quarterfinal | No.29 |
| Semifinal | No.24 |
| Final | No.20 |
| Title | No.15 |
Before he can think about moving towards the top 10, Jodar will face another young talent in Tien.
Jodar actually beat Tien last year in their only previous meeting at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah.
