Rafael Jodar marched into the Italian Open quarter-finals on Tuesday after comfortably defeating fellow youngster Learner Tien.
Jodar, who only turned professional at the start of this year, defeated the American 20-year-old 6-1, 6-4 in the BNP Paribas Arena.
As a result, Jodar is now the first teenager to reach the men’s quarter-finals in Rome since Novak Djokovic in 2007.
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Jodar’s rise has been nothing short of remarkable, and he is now projected to become the world number 29, overtaking Joao Fonseca as the ATP Tour’s highest-ranked teenager.
Jodar has also made more tennis history, emulating the efforts of tennis legend Rafael Nadal.
Rafael Jodar has reached back-to-back Masters 1000 quarter-finals
As per statisticians OptaAce, Rafael Jodar is now only the second teenager to reach the quarter-finals of Madrid and Rome in the same season after Rafael Nadal in 2005.
Remarkably, Nadal won both the Madrid Open and Italian Open in 2005.
The Spaniard defeated Ivan Ljubicic in the Madrid Open final and Guillermo Coria in Italian Open championship showpiece.
Nadal went on to win his first Grand Slam title a month later, defeating Mariano Puerta in the French Open final.
As for Jodar, he was knocked out at the Madrid Open quarter-final stage by world number one Jannik Sinner.
Rafael Jodar’s Italian Open so far
- Round One: BYE
- Round Two: defeated Nuno Borges 7-6, 6-4
- Round Three: defeated Matteo Arnaldi 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
- Round Four: defeated Learner Tien 6-1, 6-4
- Quarter-finals: Alexander Zverev / Luciano Darderi
- Semi-finals: Casper Ruud / Karen Khachanov
- Final: Jannik Sinner
It remains to be seen whether Jodar will be able to emulate half of Nadal’s historic achievement in Rome.
The 19-year-old will play Luciano Darderi in the Italian Open quarter-finals. If Jodar advances to the last four, he will face Casper Ruud or Karen Khachanov.
Rafael Jodar reacts to beating Learner Tien
During the post-match remarks, the interviewer asked Jodar: “It’s your 2nd Masters quarter-final in a row. I think you’ll be up to number 29 in the world, just above João Fonseca.
“Thinking back to a few months ago how do you reflect on that achievement?”
Jodar replied: “I am super happy. During the tournament I don’t really see the rankings.
“I just try to play the matches, try to be focused on what I have to do you know, so that’s not my priority during the tournaments.
“So yeah, super happy with how I handled the important moments during this match. Learner’s always a very tough opponent, so super happy to get the win here and to advance to the quarter-finals.”
The young Spaniard also commented on his level of focus against Tien.
“Yeah, I mean it’s always many people coming to the matches,” he said. “You just try to be focused during the matches, really important moments of the match.
Madrid Open quarter-finals
- Rafael Jodar vs Luciano Darderi
- Casper Ruud vs Karen Khachanov
- Jannik Sinner / Andrea Pellegrino vs Andrey Rublev / Nikoloz Basilashvili
- Hamad Medjedovic / Martin Landaluce vs Thiago Tirante / Daniil Medvedev
“Here in tennis there are many up and downs because there is also another player in front of you who is also playing great levels, so yeah just try to be there and try to mentally be there.”
